Editorial

Dry months

The hot, humid weather prevailing around this time of the year always makes an impact on power and water supplies. Demand for these two services goes up as consumers try to escape the warmer weather.

In Metro Manila and other major urban areas, people turn to their air-conditioning units more often to temper the heat. Others spend more time in the malls to enjoy a cooler temperature.

Demand for electricity reaches its peak during the dry months that last up to June. Power rates, in turn, increase as hydro-electric stations reduce their generating output to conserve water in the dam in favor of irrigation. Other power plants, like those that feed on costlier fuel oil and coal, fill in the slack of hydro-electric plants.

Manila Electric Co., the biggest power distributor in the country, warned over the weekend of a slight increase in its generation charge due to higher cost of power from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, where it buys part of its supply, and National Power Corp. as a result of the onset of the dry season.

The utility advised customers to use electricity wisely during the hot months when consumption levels usually rise.

“Very simple tips such as using compact fluorescent lights instead of incandescent bulb, doing your ironing at one time and opening refrigerators only when needed will, in one way or the other, help a household save electricity. Consumers actually have the power to control their usage,” a Meralco official said.

Water usage, meanwhile, also increases during the hot months, exerting pressure on utility companies. Water in dams, like Angat, could reach dangerously low levels at the peak of the warm weather, depending on the amount of rainfall.

The warmer weather will always stretch the limits of dams and raise the demand for electricity. Authorities, thus, should think of building more infrastructure projects that will address these perennial concerns. They could incorporate the spending for dams and less costly power plants in the economic stimulus package to make the dry months more bearable for Filipinos.