The Senate Energy Committee will start on May 6 its investigation into the alarming unstable power supply that is causing massive brownouts in several parts of the country.
Committee chairperson Senator Raffy Tulfo cited the declaration of red and yellow alerts in the Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao grids by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).
On Friday, the Luzon grid remained on yellow alert for several hours due to low power reserves.
NGCP said it placed the Luzon grid on yellow alert status from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. amid available capacity of 14,535 megawatts compared to peak demand of 13,751 megawatts.
“Four plants have been on forced outage since 2023, four between January and March 2024, and 14 since April 2024; while two others are running on derated capacity, for a total of 1,512.7MW unavailable to the grid,” NGCP said.
A yellow alert is issued when the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s contingency requirement.
NGCP also placed the Visayas grid status on yellow alert from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday.
In his Senate Resolution 1008, Tulfo said the cause of power plant outages and unscheduled shutdowns must be determined and erring government agencies, generation companies, and other relevant industry players must be held accountable.
Tulfo said the resulting increases in market prices of electricity should also not be borne by the consumers.
The Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) noted that placing both Luzon and Visayas grids on red and yellow alerts caused market prices to increase from P5.55 per kilowatt hour (kwh) to P13.39 per kwh in Luzon.
The market price for Visayas went up from P5.73 per kwh to P14.64 per kwh.
“There is a need to ensure that the increases in the market prices should not be borne by the innocent consumers,” he noted.
The Department of Energy has been encouraging the private sector not only to participate in the Interruptible Load Program of the distribution utilities but also to adopt similar energy conservation measures to help reduce demand, especially during the peak hours.
At the same time, the DOE appealed to the public to continue practicing energy conservation and efficiency measures during peak hours.
These measures include turning off lights and unplugging appliances when not in use, closing blinds and curtains, and avoiding, whenever possible, the use of high-energy consuming devices, which can significantly contribute to alleviating the strain on the grid.
Editor’s Note: This is an updated article. Originally posted with the headline “Senate probe on forced outages of power plants to begin May 6.”