DOE wants to do away with yellow alert announcements

The usual advisories about thinning electricity reserves or yellow alerts will no longer be announced to the public, as the Department of Energy (DOE) deemed it as among the reasons for price fluctuations in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).

"There was an issue on how do we treat yellow alerts. Sabi ko we will not disclose na may yellow alert status muna tsaka 'yung mga planta na nag-cause nito," Energy Undersecretary and spokesperson Felix William Fuentebella told reporters on the sidelines of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Exhibition in Pasay City on Thursday.

"Dahil kapag nagdi-disclose tayo, whether it is NGCP, DOE, Meralco o other players, baka kami 'yung nagti-trigger ng spikes sa Wholesale Electricity Spot Market," Fuentebella said.

The WESM is the venue for trading electricity as a commodity.

A yellow alert is raised when a grid's reserve power—the difference between supply and demand—is below the required level.

A red alert is raised when there are zero operating reserves.

Privately-owned grid operator National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) usually announces the yellow and red alerts.

The Energy official said that the department has already talked with the NGCP about the matter, and that it has stopped announcing yellow alerts since last week.

"So sabi ko let's try to do this approach. Kailangan 'wag na tayo magsalita about yellow alert kasi hindi naman talaga siya dapat sabihin, dahil baka tayo pa 'yung nagti-trigger ng spike sa [WESM]," Fuentebella said.

"Pero we can talk about it kapag tapos na. We can come out with the data kasi ang SOP [standard operating procedure] naman natin is we always send data to both ERC [Energy Regulatory Commission] and PCC [Philippine Competition Commission]," he added.

The Energy official said the DOE will come up with a communication strategy together with the NGCP, Meralco, and other electricity stakeholders on doing away with yellow alert announcements.

Fuentebella also clarified that only yellow alerts will not be announced as it is still important for the public to know the status of power grids during a red alert. — BM, GMA News