THE national average cost of power in January dropped to P3.56 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) from P4.38 per kWh in December, the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) said on Wednesday.
The decrease — which will be reflected in this month’s billing period — was due to lesser demand despite a shortage in overall supply following a shutdown of power plants in Luzon and the Visayas.
Average supply nationwide was at 19,152 megawatts (MW) in January, down from 20,233 MW in December 2025. Likewise, average demand at 12,492 MW in January was lower than the P13,440 MW in December 2025.
“Overall, this is good news for our distribution utilities and electric cooperatives and consumers, especially in the Visayas and Mindanao, because their costs were lower for the period. Demand was lower all over the Philippines because of prevailing cold weather,“ IEMOP head of trading operations Isidro Cacho Jr. told reporters.
In Luzon, electricity cost P3.25/kWh, higher than the P2.98/kWh in December due to outages, IEMOP said, while supply at 13,288 MW in January was lower than the 14,422 MW in December. Yet demand was also lower at 8,574 MW compared to 9,324 MW in December.
In the Visayas, power cost P4.24/kWh, lower than P7.22 per kWh in December, while supply at 2,361 MW was also lower than 2,524 MW in December, and demand at 1,861 MW was likewise less than the 1,978 MW in December.
Similarly, the price of electricity in Mindanao at P4.27/kWh was less than the P7.82 per kWh in December, attributed to a higher supply at 3,563 MW compared to 3,287 MW in December, while demand at 2,056 MW was lower than 2,137 MW in the same period.
