Meralco: Rotational brownouts affect over 540K customers NCR, nearby provinces

More than 540,000 customers in parts of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Quezon, Rizal, and the National Capital Region (NCR) have been affected as of 6 p.m. by rotational brownouts that lasted three hours in some areas.

In a statement issued on Friday night, Meralco said it implemented manual load dropping (MLD) or rotating power interruptions after the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines raised a red alert on the Luzon Grid.

A red alert is the highest alert level and is declared when the electricity supply is insufficient to meet demand since the reserves are depleted.

During this status, widespread power interruptions or rotational brownouts are expected as electricity is temporarily cut in certain areas on a scheduled basis to prevent the entire grid from collapsing.

The Luzon grid on Friday ran at an available capacity of 13,508 megawatts (MW) against a peak demand of 13,881 MW, resulting in a deficiency of 373 MW.

The NGCP said a total of 4,106 MW capacity was unavailable to the grid as 16 plants are on forced outage since May, one plant since April, three plants since March, one plant since February, three since January, three plants since 2025, two plants since 2024, and one plant out since 2019.

Meanwhile, 14 plants are running on derated capacities.

"We thank our big-load customers enrolled under the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) — with a collective de-loading capacity of close to 300 MW — for their continuous help in managing the situation," Meralco said.

"We continue to closely monitor the situation and remain committed to managing the system. Updates will be provided as needed," it added. –NB, GMA News