Visayas grid alerts may persist until August – NGCP

MANILA, Philippines — The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) expects electricity supply in the Visayas to remain tight until August, as major power plants continue to be offline.

NGCP spokesperson Cynthia Alabanza said that even as electricity demand eases, the Visayas is not yet out of the woods, with all unavailable large facilities expected to return only in August.

“The situation in the Visayas has been aggravated by the outage of several large power plants. Of the four, one has already returned to operation, but that is still not enough to stabilize the grid,” Alabanza told reporters yesterday.

She said the continued unplanned shutdowns of these facilities are straining the region’s power reserves, triggering the issuance of grid alerts.

Since May 12, the Visayas grid has been under yellow and red alert conditions due to tight power supply driven by high electricity demand and limited available reserves.

The NGCP placed the region under a yellow alert from 4 to 9 p.m. yesterday, as peak demand reached 2,482 megawatts while available capacity stood at just 2,581 MW.

The Department of Energy has warned that the recent grid alerts may put upward pressure on power bills this month. However, the NGCP said that in terms of transmission rates, charges are still declining in June power bills.

Julius Ryan Datingaling, NGCP revenue management head, said the overall average transmission rates dropped by 9.33 percent to P1.4492 per kilowatt-hour in May, from the previous month’s P1.5983 per kWh.

The adjustment, which will be reflected in consumer bills this month, was attributed to lower transmission wheeling and ancillary services (AS) rates.

Transmission wheeling rates are what the NGCP charges for its primary service of delivering electricity from power plants to distribution networks. The AS charges cover the cost of backup power purchased by the NGCP to support grid reliability.

Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police (PNP) has increased patrols in residential areas, commercial establishments, automated teller sites, fuel stations and other critical infrastructure that are vulnerable during prolonged electricity disruptions in Mindanao.

PNP chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said police units should address security concerns during power outages.

“Our objective is to reassure residents of the presence of their police, not only for their safety but also for response to any request for assistance,” Nartatez said in a statement yesterday.