State-run National Power Corporation (NPC) is seeking an increased capital outlay of P6 billion for the contingency measures it shall be enforcing to ensure reliable power supply during the 2010 election period.

NPC president Froilan Tampinco said the budget has gone higher than previously proposed after some discussions with the Commission on Elections.

“We already submitted the plan and we discussed it with Comelec. And they were lobbying for other plans to be in place, they will require few megawatts of mobile capacities so they can move from one area to another to make sure that any problem can be addressed,” the power firm executive noted.

Notably, the revised capital outlay almost doubled from what was originally budgeted by NPC at just about P3 billion. “We are looking at an outlay of about P6 billion,” Tampinco added.

Comelec, in turn, reportedly committed that it will invest in batteries so they can resort to back-up measures, in case unavoidable circumstances happen in the country’s electricity system.

“They told us that their computers can run on batteries,” Tampinco said. Nevertheless, he stressed that they are not taking any chances, hence, they will have to ensure that power supply would not be interrupted especially during the critical canvassing of the election results.

The precarious portion of the planning process, Tampinco admitted, is Visayas given the capacity shortfall already experienced by some areas in the grid.

Apart from concerns on power supply during the election period, he noted that the area also needs to deal with adding in capacity for end-users, especially for businesses eyeing to locate in the Visayas.

“What we should bear in mind is – especially in the Visayas, they are so concerned about power – they are concerned about the locators coming in. So this contingency plan should also consider that,” Tampinco stressed.

Secretary Angelo T. Reyes required the attached agencies of the Department of Energy (DoE) to draw up contingency plan for the May 2010 elections, with politicians already raising concern of potential brownouts that may muddle up election results.

Apart from the generation side of the sector, the energy department is also ensuring that transmission capacity in the electricity system would work seamlessly before, during and after the electoral processes.

Given that, the DoE sought the cooperation of system operator National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) in the setting up of contingency measures for the elections.