Senator Win Gatchalian has urged the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to investigate the increasing number of power plants experiencing forced outages and determine whether these facilities are still meeting government reliability standards.
The call came after the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) once again placed the Visayas grid under yellow alert on Thursday, May 28, due to insufficient operating reserves.
According to the NGCP, at least 14 power plants have been on forced outage since the beginning of May, raising concerns over the stability of the country’s power supply during the summer season.
“Itong mga yellow at red alert, dulot yan ng unplanned outages. Dapat imbestigahan ng ERC kung sumusunod pa rin ang mga plantang ito sa itinakdang standards ng gobyerno dahil paulit-ulit natin itong nakikita tuwing summer,” Gatchalian said.
The senator warned that recurring outages continue to place additional pressure on consumers, especially amid expectations of another increase in electricity rates this June.
“Ang ERC ay may kapangyarihan na gawing staggered o pakonti-konti ang pagtaas ng presyo ng kuryente,” he added.
Gatchalian stressed the importance of stricter oversight of power generation facilities and stronger accountability measures for generation companies to help prevent repeated yellow and red alerts.
For its part, the ERC earlier said it remains in close coordination with the Department of Energy, the NGCP and concerned generation companies to monitor the condition of affected plants and implement appropriate measures aimed at restoring available capacity to the grid as quickly as possible.