Electricity restored in Panay Island as power plant resumes operation — ERC

MANILA, Philippines — The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) confirmed on Saturday the restoration of power supply in Panay Island, Western Visayas, after the successful reactivation of a power plant on Friday.

During a press briefing in Quezon City on Saturday, ERC chair Monalisa Dimalanta said the last power plant synchronized with the grid around 1:30 a.m., gradually restoring its supply.

“Noon pong hapon, between 12 noon to around 2 o’clock, nag-normalize na po iyong sitwasyon sa Western Visayas kaya din po inangat na po ng NGCP (National Grid Corporation of the Philippines), ng SO, ng system operator natin lahat ng constraints at bumalik na din po iyong commercial operation ng WESM (Wholesale Electricity Spot Market) ng Spot Market in the Visayas Region,” Dimalanta said.

(Between 12 noon to around 2 o’clock in the afternoon, the situation in Western Visayas had normalized. The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) and our system operator lifted all constraints. The commercial operation of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) in the Visayas Region has also resumed.)

On Friday, NGCP said that it is only mandated to "transmit power from producers to grid-connected areas to the country." 

“As the transmission service provider, NGCP can only give an overview of the current supply and demand situation and endeavor to dispatch any and all available power. It cannot intervene on matters concerning power generation,” it said.

However, the ERC contested this, asserting that NGCP is also tasked with managing system operations.

“Ang ibig sabihin po nito, nasa prangkisa mismo nila at nasa EPIRA na ang trabaho po ng system operator ay paniguruhin ang safe and reliable operation of the grid (The system operator's role, as per their franchise and EPIRA, is to ensure a secure and reliable grid),” Dimalanta said.

The ERC chief emphasized the need for a dedicated body overseeing system balance for effective grid functioning.

Dimalanta also confirmed an ongoing investigation, initially learning of the first unit's failure around noon on January 2, followed by six more unit failures.

“Pero so far po kasi, wala pa po kaming nakikita at wala din po naman sinasabi sila (NGCP) na ginawa nila during the two-hour window except to say na normal naman daw po iyong state during the two-hour window – doon po siguro kami may pagkakaiba ng appreciation ng sitwasyon,” Dimalanta said.

(So far, we haven't identified any action taken by NGCP during the two-hour window, apart from their statement claiming normalcy during that period. This is where we may differ in our assessment of the situation.)

Despite the return of electricity in the region, the ERC said that continuous monitoring remains a priority following the recent prolonged power outages.

On Friday, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. urged the NGCP to take accountability for the Western Visayas power outage that occurred a day after the New Year.

He also directed the ERC to promptly revise NGCP rates and emphasized the need for NGCP to comply with legal obligations and regulations.