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Red Alert a Vicious Cycle

Consumer group kuryente.org

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) is quick to blame power plants again as the Luzon-Visayas grid plunged into yellow and red alerts today, September 12.

We at Kuryente.Org can see the same old script being rolled out all over again. NGCP will blame power plants, power plants, will blame NGCP, and the government will blame everybody. We are even projecting a new round of Congressional hearings again to discuss the same old seasonal issue we face every few months.

This is a new challenge for the regulators in the Energy industry – Secretary Popo Lotilla and Energy Regulatory Commission Chair Monalisa Dimalanta. Also to energy committees in Congress Rep. Lord Alan Velasco and Senator Raffy Tulfo. You are all new faces with the same old problems on your hands.

We are sick and tired of all these situations, as we, the consumers, cannot do anything but to watch these over and over again and suffer the impact of having no electricity.

Kuryente.Org has three questions we hope NGCP, DOE and ERC will answer:

  1. There are plants who are on scheduled maintenance shutdown. What are the plants that had forced shutdowns today which led to the yellow and red alert?
  2. What happened to the Ancillary Services – Competitive Selection Process (AS-CSP) which NGCP is supposed to roll out?
  3. What is NGCP doing to upgrade its system backbone particularly in Luzon and what is the update on critical infrastructure like the Mindanao-Visayas interconnection project which could have unlocked excess capacity in MIndanao that could have helped Visayas and Luzon?

About Kuryente.Org

Kuryente.Org is a consumer welfare organization that aims to pursue transparency and good governance in the energy industry sector with the ultimate objective of ensuring the rights of the people for a progressive energy sector and industry in the Philippines.

To realize consumer choices, Kuryente.Org aims to build and strengthen partnerships to advocate for the robust implementation of existing energy laws and key energy policies to ensure equal and competitive business opportunities in the energy sector and industry and develop needed infrastructures within planetary limits.

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