Quarterly Performance Report FY4 Q1 (October – December 2017)

EPDP supports the national government, particularly the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and the Department of Energy (DOE), in policy formulation and analysis for the energy sector. The program is being implemented by the UPecon Foundation and is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). EPDP's approach to attaining its objective involves four key initiatives: providing technical foundation for policy development, capacity building, and communication interventions through an energy research program; providing policy development advisory to NEDA and DOE; supporting capacity building activities for NEDA and DOE and their attached agencies, other partners in the national government, and the private sector; and supporting communication activities to share energy-related research and initiatives with stakeholders in the energy sector. In Quarter 1 of Fiscal Year 4 (October-December 2017), EPDP continued to extend capacity building and policy support to its partner government agencies. Despite a reduced program budget, the number of requests from partner government agencies for EPDP support and services increased. EPDP's current obligated funding will run up to June 2018 only, three months earlier than the end-of-project in September 2018. EPDP facilitated dialogue among experts by organizing the "Executive Seminar on Fostering Dynamic Competition in the Philippine Power Industry" in partnership with the Philippine Competition Commission and the World Bank Group. The seminar aimed to acquaint executives and key technical staff with the fundamental principles, applications, and policy issues on market power in the electricity industry and identify policy recommendations on how market power can be monitored and mitigated to enhance efficiency and encourage dynamic competition in the Philippine electricity market. The Department of Energy (DOE) requested assistance in developing Department of Energy (DOE) Circular No. DC2017-11-0012: Philippine Downstream Natural Gas Regulation (PDNGR). The circular aims to provide a regulatory framework in the promotion and development of the Philippines as a regional Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) trans-shipment hub in the Asia-Pacific region. EPDP also provided support to the Senate Committee on Energy on Senate Bill 1308 (Electricity Procurement Act of 2017) during the technical working group meeting on specific aspects of the bill. A Research Workshop was organized by EPDP on 18 December 2017 to present the progress of research initiatives and the findings of the completed studies. The workshop was participated in by representatives from the DOE, NEDA, Senate Committee on Energy, Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), and the Ateneo School of Government (ASOG). At the workshop, the plan to publish a book on Philippine electricity was also discussed. EPDP aims to complete the book and hold a soft launch by June 2018. EPDP also organized two sessions in the recently concluded 55th Annual Meeting of the Philippine Economic Society (PES) held on 8 November 2017 at Novotel Manila. The sessions convened were "Power Economics: Prices, Generation and Use" and "Power and Development: Cooperatives, Demand Forecasting, and Quality." These aimed to disseminate results and solicit feedback on EPDP research studies. EPDP continues to engage the private sector in the activity dubbed as "Private Sector Lecture Series," to provide a holistic understanding of the country's electric power industry. This quarter, EPDP partnered with PHINMA Energy Corporation, Meralco PowerGen, and Energy World Corporation, with their top executives delivering lectures. EPDP also continues to support academic activities in institutions of tertiary education to produce a pool of energy policy specialists and practitioners that the Philippine Government may tap in the future. The Program continued to provide input for the development of an academic program on energy in UPSE by supporting its curriculum review. This quarter, a series of meetings were held to review the proposed undergraduate curriculum. This will then be submitted to the University Council, for approval. If approved, a special topics course in environment and natural resource economics will include energy economics. This will ensure that energy courses will be pursued as part of the regular academic program even beyond the life of the program. EPDP's performance in Quarter 1 of Fiscal Year 4 (October-December 2017) is detailed in the following sections: Section II is a snapshot of key activities, Section III details program component and other cross-cutting activities and achievements, and Section IV deals with program management activities and finances. The Annexes provide the supporting documents for this report, including the updated Performance Indicator Tracking Table (PITT) as Annex 1.