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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider NGCP's 'rampant failure' to do its obligation warrants franchise termination - Tulfo

NGCP's 'rampant failure' to do its obligation warrants franchise termination - Tulfo

Published Jan 5, 2024 10:55 am

Sen. Raffy Tulfo stressed on Friday, Jan. 5, that the "rampant failure" of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) to do its obligation in operating, maintaining, and developing the country’s power grid is sufficient ground to warrant a review and eventual termination of its existing franchise.

In a statement, Tulfo, Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Energy, slammed the NGCP for its repeated failure to maintain the stability of the grid that led to the recent massive power outage in Panay Island. The senator said that he is irked that this occurrence happened for the second time in a row after the system disturbances in the Panay and Negros Sub-grids from April 27 to 29, 2023.

“Panahon na para mas mapabilis ang pagrerebisa at agarang pagtanggal ng prangkisa ng NGCP. Mahigit isang dekada at kalahati nang nagsasakripisyo ang taumbayan sa mga kapalpakan nila (It's tome to speed up the revision and termination of NGCP's franchise. The public's been suffering from their almost one and a half decade of failure). Enough is enough!” he said.

Tulfo added that NGCP should have already learned from the system disturbance that happened in April last year in the Panay and Negros Sub-grids and resolved things differently and better this time around.

As part of his consistent and 24/7 monitoring of the Panay energy crisis, Tulfo contacted NEA Administrator Antonio Mariano Almeda today to ask for updates about said issue. The Administrator gave the Senator a copy of the report he submitted to President Bongbong Marcos regarding the incident.

In said report, Almeda noted that the cause of the incident “may potentially be attributed to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) being unable to provide the necessary ancillary power support when the first unit of Panay Energy Development Corp’s (PEDC) power plant tripped at 12:06 PM on January 2, 2024” due to a boiler feed pump issue.

The report likewise noted that subsequently, at approximately 2:19 PM on the same day, all other power plants in the Panay Islands simultaneously tripped, leading to the shutdown of multiple substations operated by affected electric cooperatives.

According to Almeda, the lack of ancillary power support from NGCP could have triggered the cascading tripping of the remaining power plants in the Panay Islands thus leading to further blackouts.

Almeda however assured the senator that immediate action is already being conducted to address the problem and that power in Panay Island is expected to be fully restored by midnight.

Tulfo said that he also contacted and is now in full coordination with the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) which are both continuously coordinating with the NGCP and the affected power plants.

Tulfo added that the continued inefficiencies and failure to comply with its obligations mandated by its franchise of NGCP strengthens his firm resolve to review its franchise which he already investigated through a Senate Resolution last year.

The continuation of the hearing of said resolution seeking to investigate all the lapses of NGCP which could be grounds for the termination of its franchise is set on Jan. 10, 2024.

Related Tags

Panay Island Power outage National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) Senator Raffy Tulfo
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