Rep. Janice Degamo (Neg. Or., 3rd District) has filed a resolution seeking a congressional investigation into the recurring power outages and repeated Yellow and Red Alert declarations affecting the Visayas grid.
Through House Resolution No. 1114, Degamo asked the House Committee on Energy to conduct an inquiry in aid of legislation into the continued implementation of manual load dropping, recurring grid alerts, and the forced outages and reduced capacities of several power plants.
“The continued power outages in the Visayas are no longer just an inconvenience. They affect our homes, our schools, our hospitals, our businesses, our government services, and the daily lives of ordinary Filipino families,” Degamo said in a statement.
She said many consumers across the Visayas have endured rotational power interruptions for more than a month, adding that the public deserves answers on why the outages continue, what measures are being taken to address them, and who should be held accountable.
Degamo said the inquiry aims to strengthen energy security, improve grid reliability, protect consumers, and ensure accountability among concerned government agencies, grid operators, power generation companies, and distribution utilities.
As of 8 a.m. Monday, June 16, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines placed the Visayas Grid under Yellow Alert from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
NGCP said available capacity was pegged at 2,587 megawatts against a projected peak demand of 2,384 megawatts.
The grid operator said seven power plants were on forced outage this month, while several others have remained offline since previous years. Twelve power plants are also operating on derated capacities, resulting in a total of 947.8 megawatts unavailable to the grid.
NGCP attributed the latest Yellow Alert to the unavailability of major coal-fired power plants, including TVI Units 1 and 2, PEDC Unit 3, and KSPC Unit 1, as well as high power demand forecasts.
A Yellow Alert is declared when the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s contingency requirements.
Degamo said reliable electricity is essential for public welfare, education, healthcare, safety, livelihood, and economic activity.
“The people of the Visayas deserve stable and reliable electricity. We will continue to push for answers and action,” she said.*
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