President Marcos has ordered the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to promptly complete the reset of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) rates, following the island-wide blackout in Western Visayas since January 2.
Marcos said while power has been restored, the situation has caused significant hardship to the people, their businesses and livelihoods, and endangering those in need of healthcare.
The President noted that the NGCP had a crucial two-hour window to prevent the system collapse, but it failed to resort to manual load dropping resulting into the crisis.
"In this regard, I have also directed the ERC to complete the reset of NGCP’s rates without further delay, to ensure NGCP’s compliance with its statutory and regulatory obligations, and to defend in no uncertain terms against any attempt to defer, delay, or prevent the implementation of regulatory measures," Marcos said in a video message on Friday, Jan. 5.
He further said that NGCP’s failure to act during the two-hour window is "a missed opportunity," adding that it must "proactively engage with distribution utilities and cooperatives to manage loads and prevent such system collapses."
Marcos also reiterated his call last year for NGCP to be transparent to its stakeholders, utilities, and regulators, and to acknowledge its responsibility and be transparent in identifying weaknesses in transmission systems.
"They must identify and address these issues as they are crucial for a resilient and stable power infrastructure," he said.
The Chief Executive also recalled that a similar incident happened in Panay in April last year, prompting an examination of NGCP’s performance.
He further said that the incident has revealed the importance of completing the Panay-Negros-Cebu interconnection by August of 2023. However, the promised completion date did not materialize, he added.
"The NGCP assured us that the Visayas Grid had sufficient capacity, assuming timely completion of the Mindanao-Visayas and Panay-Negros-Cebu interconnections. However, we find ourselves in January 2024, far from the promised completion date of August 2023, and we are still, still hoping for the Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection by late January of 2024," Marcos stated.
"Accountability lies with the NGCP. They are tasked with grid stability. Stability involves proactive responses to breakdowns and unexpected events, a duty that NGCP unfortunately has not fulfilled adequately," he added.