Senate asked: Probe successive power transmission disturbances
MANILA, Philippines (Updated 11:21 a.m.) — Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian is calling for a Senate inquiry into the successive power transmission disturbances that cause hours-long blackouts in several parts of the country.
Gatchalian, vice-chairperson on the Senate energy panel, filed Senate Resolution 607, which noted that these power disturbances “caused inconvenience to communities and losses to businesses.”
“The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines as the operator of the transmission system in the country should be held to account for the root cause of these disturbances and be mandated to provide a comprehensive audit of the reliability of the transmission system,” Gatchalian said.
The NGCP last Monday raised red and yellow alerts over the Luzon grid after the Bolo-Masinloc 230kV Line 2 tripped, leading to the tripping of two units of the Masinloc Coal Power Plant.
This led to power interruptions across Luzon, affecting 300,000 customers served by Manila Electric Corporation in Paco and Sta. Mesa in Manila, Caloocan, Malabon, Batangas, Antipolo in Rizal, San Pedro and Biñan in Laguna, and San Rafael and Pulilan in Bulacan.
Meralco also reported power cuts on May 9 due to a temporary system imbalance caused by the sudden outage of the Duhat-Hermosa 290kV line.
Late April, the NGCP reported a system disturbance in the Visayas grid, which caused power interruptions lasting up to 12 hours in the islands of Panay, Guimaras and Negros, affecting over 1.5 million households.
Makabayan bloc seeks review of EPIRA
At the lower chamber, the Makabayan bloc also filed a resolution related to power transmission disturbances in May. They are calling for a legislative inquiry into the “issuance of red and yellow alerts” of the NGCP for Luzon and Visayas grids “due to forced outages of five electric power plants and the derated capacity of three others.”
Reps. France Castro (ACT Teachers Party-list), Arlene Brosas (Gabriela Women’s Party) and Raoul Manuel (KABATAAN Party-list) noted in House Resolution 971 that the DOE gave assurances to the public that there will be no power interruption during summer, but a red alert was still issued by the NGCP on May 8.
The minority lawmakers continued: “[C]ontrary to the promises of Republic Act 9136 also known as the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2011 (EPIRA), privatization of the electric power industry did not result in more affordable, accessible and reliable electricity to the Filipino people.”
“If not ultimately repealed, it is high time for Congress to, at the very least, review and introduce amendments to EPIRA,” they added. — Xave Gregorio with reports from Kristine Joy Patag
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