Gencos warned vs excessive unplanned power blackouts

MANILA, Philippines — With the dry months and election period approaching, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has warned generating companies (gencos) against exceeding unplanned outage or they  face penalties.

ERC chairperson Agnes Devanadera said the commission is strictly monitoring gencos’ operations and which ones are exceeding allowed unplanned outage days.

“We are constantly monitoring and reviewing the weekly reports being submitted by the gencos in compliance with our directive pertaining to the Reliability Performance Indices and Equivalent Outage Days Per Year of Generating Units,” she said.

The ERC setting a cap on annual unplanned outages per generating plant technology.

“This is one of the mechanisms devised by the commission to ensure that gencos do not unnecessarily go on an unplanned outage, especially during the summer months when there is surge in power demand and reserves get used up,” Devanadera said.

The ERC chief urged industry players for cooperation, especially in the coming summer months and upcoming national elections “to avoid undergoing any unplanned outage so as not to add burden to the consuming public considering that the COVID-19 pandemic has not been ruled out.”

“We will exercise the punitive powers accorded to ERC by the EPIRA Law to ensure that electricity consumers’ interests are promoted and protected in terms of uninterruptible power supply.  Non-adherence to our regulatory policies is non-negotiable,” Devanadera said.

Last year, the ERC investigated 17 gencos that breached that exceeded the maximum allowable unplanned outage.  At least six were penalized.

The ERC has imposed a total of P15.5 million penalty on erring gencos that were found to have breached the maximum allowable unplanned outage days for the year.