THE Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has installed generating capacity and market share limits for the country’s power grids this year to promote competition and prevent market dominance in the electricity sector.
In Resolution 17, Series of 2026, the ERC established updated generating capacity levels for the Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao grids, as well as the national grid, in line with the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001.
ERC Chairman and CEO Francis Saturnino Juan said the updated limits were aimed at strengthening transparency and ensuring fair competition in the power sector.
“Healthy competition in the power sector is essential to ensuring reliable electricity supply and protecting consumers from unreasonable prices,” Juan said.
“By regularly updating the installed generating capacity and market share limitation, the ERC helps prevent market dominance and promotes a level playing field for all industry participants,” he added.
The updated figures will help regulators better monitor the country’s expanding power sector amid the continued entry of renewable energy projects and battery energy storage systems.
Under the law, no single company or related group is allowed to own, operate or control more than 30 percent of the installed generating capacity of a regional grid, and no more than 25 percent of the national installed generating capacity.
The ERC set the Luzon grid’s installed generating capacity at 20.42 million kilowatts (kW), placing the corresponding market share limit at 6.13 million kW.
Those for the Visayas grid, meanwhile, were set at 3.48 million kW with market share cap of 1.04 million kW, while the Mindanao grid was placed at 4.30 million kW with a limit of 1.29 million kW.
At the national level, installed generating capacity was pegged at 28.20 million kW, with allowable market share limit set at 7.05 million kW.
The agency said the updated figures were based on the maximum stable load, or the maximum dependable output that power plants can reliably sustain based on capability tests.
