The Philippines is set to secure another $1-billion loan from the World Bank in June, this time for an energy project follow-through and coupled with a $20-million grant, making the package the largest single financing commitment extended to the country by the Washington-based multilateral lender....
Twenty-five years after the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) restructured the country’s electricity sector, government and industry players are expected to raise a toast to “market liberalization” as a success story. Whether consumers feel just as energized, however, is another...
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has imposed new limits on the maximum market share power generation companies can control in the country’s regional and national grids, part of its regulatory push to curb monopolies and foster competition in the sector. The ERC updated the installed...
Recent rotational brownouts in Luzon have highlighted the urgent need to modernize the country’s aging power grid, with state-run policy think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) warning that transmission bottlenecks and delayed infrastructure projects are increasingly...
Visayas grid was placed under its 15th consecutive yellow alert this month even after energy regulators launched on-site inspections of major power plants in the region to determine the causes of recent forced outages and accelerate the restoration of electricity supply. The Energy Regulatory...
APEC Party-list Rep. Sergio Dagooc is urging the government to review Department of Energy (DOE) and Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) policies that may be contributing to both supply constraints and higher electricity costs. Dagooc made this call in light of the recent rotating brownouts in Luzon...
Amid recent power fluctuations in Luzon and recurring yellow alerts in Visayas grid, energy regulators and private-sector players are pushing for faster deployment of flexible and dispatchable power capacity to strengthen grid reliability during the dry season. During the Economic Journalists...
The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) has denied before congressmen allegations that it failed to submit reports in a timely manner to energy regulators regarding the back-to-back tripping of the 500 kilovolt (KV) Ilijan-Dasmariñas and Ilijan-Tayabas transmission lines. NGCP...
The United States (US) government’s Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC) has earmarked a $60-million grant for the Philippines focused on the energy sector. Documents discussed during the US aid agency’s economic advisory council meeting last month, which were made public last week, showed that the...
Rotating power disruptions are set to return to Luzon and Visayas on Friday, May 15, as the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) placed the two regional grids under yellow and red alert status due to widening supply deficit. The NGCP advised that the Luzon grid will experience yellow...
A pro-solar energy congressman is prodding the government to protect consumers against fly-by-night solar power providers, even as the shift to this particular renewable energy (RE) becomes more palatable to Filipinos. Abra lone district Rep. JB Bernos, a member of the Committee on Appropriations,...
Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) has asked regulators for permission to cap an expected spike in electricity rates this month to shield households from surging generation costs and a weakening currency. In a proposal submitted to the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), the country’s largest power...
