Visayas: Visayan lawmakers, led by House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Alfredo Abelardo Benitez and Negros Occidental 3rd District Rep. Javier Miguel Benitez, are calling for an investigation into the recurring power outages and the associated costs and delivery of power reserves in the region.
According to Philippines News Agency, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) issued red and yellow alerts on Tuesday due to insufficient power supply in the Visayas grid. This has resulted in rotational brownouts in Negros, Panay, and other areas over the past four months. In a Facebook post, Rep. Benitez announced the filing of House Resolution 1430 on Monday, which directs the committee on energy to examine the costs and delivery of power reserves, grid reliability, and the status of energy storage and transmission projects in the Visayas.
Rep. Benitez emphasized the united front of the Visayas in demanding accountability from the NGCP, the Energy Regulatory Commission, the Department of Energy, Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines, and power generators. He revealed that 11 Visayas representatives have signed on as co-principal authors, with 25 others committed to co-authoring the resolution.
One of the key concerns raised by Benitez is the transparency of the PHP1.04 per kilowatt-hour paid by consumers for backup power. He also seeks to uncover the total amount paid by Visayas consumers for ancillary services in 2026, identify the generators that received these payments, and determine the megawatts of reserve secured along with the dates for new supply and transmission in the region.
The NGCP has clarified that a red alert indicates insufficient power supply to meet consumer demand and the transmission grid's regulatory requirement, while a yellow alert signifies an inadequate operating margin to meet the grid's contingency requirement. As of September, seven power plants in the Visayas grid are on forced outage, with several others experiencing outages since earlier months and years, leading to a total of 786.4 megawatts being unavailable to the grid.
Deputy Speaker Benitez, representing the Lone District of Bacolod City, also introduced a resolution on Monday, urging the committee on Visayas development to investigate the ongoing and worsening power outages in the region. He asserted the right of Bacolod residents to a consistent and reliable power supply and highlighted the detrimental effects of frequent rotational brownouts, which have extended from one hour to as long as five to nine hours.
Benitez underscored the economic losses incurred by businesses, disruptions to educational activities, risks posed to patients reliant on electric medical equipment, and the erosion of investor confidence in the Visayas as a hub for trade, tourism, and industry due to these power issues.
