Sen. Raffy Tulfo has filed a resolution that seeks to investigate the alarming power supply issue hounding the country.
Tulfo who chairs the Senate Committee on Energy, filed Senate Resolution No. 1008 following the declaration of red and yellow alerts in the Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao grids.
A red alert is issued when the power supply fails to meet consumer demand and the transmission grid’s regulating requirement. On the other hand, a yellow alert is issued when the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s contingency requirement.
“It is important to determine the cause of the insufficiency of power supply to meet consumer demand, including the cause of power plant outages and unscheduled shutdowns,” he said.
As early as April 16, Tulfo said that he already coordinated with the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines to ensure that the corporation, along with the Department of Energy (DOE), would strictly monitor the generation companies to avoid brownouts.
Meanwhile, according to the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP), placing both Luzon and Visayas grids on red and yellow alerts has also caused market prices to increase from P5.55 per kilowatt hour (kWh) to 13.39 pesos per kWh in Luzon, while the market price for the Visayas went up from P5.73 per kWh to P14.64 per kWh.
“There is a need to ensure that the increases in the market prices should not be borne by the innocent consumers,” he noted.
In filing the said resolution, Tulfo also underscores the need to ensure that proper measures and interventions are being undertaken and are to be undertaken by the relevant government agencies, generation companies, and other industry players to make sure that there is sufficient supply of power and to prevent nationwide rotational brownouts.
The hearing of the Senate Committee on Energy regarding said issue is scheduled for May 6.