LAWMAKERS at the House of Representatives challenged the Department of Energy (DOE) over the recurring red and yellow alerts, and rotational brownouts in the Luzon and Visayas grids, arguing that the core problem lies in insufficient power supply rather than transmission failures alone.
During a joint hearing of the House Committees on Energy and Legislative Franchises, several members of the House pointed to generation shortfalls and plant outages as the main drivers of grid instability, even as DOE officials maintained that multiple factors affect system reliability.
Cagayan de Oro 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said records presented during the inquiry showed that the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) properly handled the May 13 transmission disturbance, restoring both affected 500-kilovolt lines within hours.
Rodriguez said the Ilijan–Tayabas line was restored at 2:44 p.m., while the Dasmariñas–Ilijan line returned to service at 4:52 p.m., noting that grid operators acted within required protocols.
“Clearly, NGCP performed its duty. They reported the incident, they fixed the lines, and they preserved the power supply that was available,” Rodriguez said.
He added that ongoing alerts, particularly in the Visayas, point to continuing supply constraints rather than transmission-related faults.
“Until now, there is still a Yellow Alert in the Visayas because many power plants are on outage,” he said.
Rodriguez also questioned what he described as an attempt to assign blame solely to NGCP for extended grid alerts.
“What is the fault of NGCP? They were able to preserve the power supply that was available,” he said.
Murang Kuryente Party-list Rep. Mark Artur Yap echoed the same position, pressing DOE officials to explain whether reportorial compliance issues could be responsible for rotating brownouts.
“To the DOE, are you trying to tell me that the entire explanation for rotating brownouts is that NGCP was not able to file its report on time?” Yap asked.
He said the situation reflects a basic imbalance between supply and demand.
“The real issue is supply and demand. If supply is more than enough, why are there rotating brownouts?” he said.
Yap added that the recurring outages were better explained by generation deficiencies than administrative lapses.
“Is it NGCP’s late report that is the reason, or is it lack of supply that is causing the brownout?” he said.
Pangasinan 2nd District Rep. Mark Cojuangco, meanwhile, criticized the government’s long-term energy direction, particularly the growing reliance on renewable sources without sufficient baseload support.
He questioned the reliability of solar energy during peak evening demand.
“What happens at night when it comes to solar?” Cojuangco said, noting that solar facilities operate at low effective capacity over a 24-hour cycle.
He also raised concerns over the current limitations of battery storage technology in addressing nighttime demand.
“How will batteries meet the demand at night?” he said.
Cojuangco argued that renewable energy was being oversold as a complete solution to the country’s power needs.
“This is an example of marketing. The public is being misled about the capability of wind and solar,” he said.
He further questioned recurring plant shutdowns, suggesting these may be linked to stressed generating units due to tight supply conditions.
“I find it implausible that this happens in isolation. Maybe they are being forced to run at maximum capacity because supply is insufficient,” he said.
The lawmaker also renewed criticism of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira), saying it has failed to ensure timely investments in new capacity.
“Failure of Epira. There is no timely investment. When power is short, prices go up and profits go up,” Cojuangco said.
He described the Philippine Energy Plan as unrealistic in its current form.
“Bad policy. The Philippine Energy Plan is a dream. You are making the public hope for a failed dream,” he added.
DOE officials acknowledged during the hearing that several plant outages following the May 13 incident were separate and not caused by NGCP transmission line trips.
They also confirmed regular coordination with NGCP on grid advisories and system alerts.
NGCP reiterated that both affected transmission lines were restored within hours and that grid stability was maintained during the disturbance.
The grid operator also noted that supply conditions were tight prior to May 13, with around 1,728 megawatts (MW) of generating capacity in Luzon on forced outage or derated, while the Visayas had about 857 MW unavailable, placing the region under Yellow Alert even before the transmission incident.
Historical grid data cited during the hearing showed that from 2016 to 2025, 235 out of 243 red alerts — equivalent to 96.7 percent — were linked to generation-related issues rather than transmission failures.
Lawmakers said the data show a growing consensus that the country’s recurring power disruptions stem primarily from inadequate and unreliable generation capacity, rather than grid transmission performance alone.
