Power producers group: No outages during May 13 polls, canvassing

There will be no power outages during the May 13 elections and canvassing power producers said Thursday.

"Yes, we are committed to making sure there is power on that day and the day of the canvassing and for the future days," said Philippine Independent Power Producers Association (PIPPA) president and executive director Anne Estorco-Montelibano during the hearing of the Joint Congressional Power Commission.

“Election is very important to us because we will be electing our public leaders who will be changing the course of our law for the next few years,” she added.

Montelibano made the statement after Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi asked the panel to seek a direct answer from PIPPA.

“We have been saying the plants are coming back. Since PIPPA is here then we can ask them directly to answer that question because the [power] supply is not being controlled by DOE,” Cusi said.

Earlier in the hearing, Cusi said that there will be sufficient power supply for May 13 if there are no outages.

“There is sufficient supply. Kaya lang nagkaproblema kasi sabay-sabay ‘yung 1500 outages. Any time of the year kung ganun ang mangyayari problema talaga ‘yun. So may apat na babalik na planta na nawala sa supply chain dahil sa outages. Kapag bumalik ‘yun, balik tayo sa normal level natin,” he said.

Montelibano said that PIPPA is part of the DOE and that all of its plants regularly give data to the department.

“We are committed to supplying energy. We rescheduled our plant outages based on the directive of the DOE as mandated by law. I foresee no problem on that,” he said.

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) earlier said that there will be no maintenance work on power facilities one week before and one week after the May 13 polls to ensure a reliable power transmission system.

Since the beginning of April, the Luzon power grid has been placed on either yellow or red alert multiple times, amid depleting reserves due to both unplanned and forced outages of several power plants.

The lower reserves have since resulted in rotational brownouts in several areas in Luzon to maintain the integrity of the power system. — BM, GMA News