Rotating brownouts hit 200,000 Meralco customers as red alert grips Luzon grid

Thousands of electricity consumers across the Manila Electric Company’s (Meralco) franchise area experienced power interruptions as the Luzon power grid was crippled by thinning reserves.

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) placed the Luzon grid under yellow alert from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., followed by a red alert from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. and another yellow alert from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.

With this, the NGCP is implementing a series of Manual Load Dropping (MLD) or rotational brownouts across Luzon island, including Meralco’s franchise area.

“Following NGCP’s declaration of Red Alert status on the Luzon Grid today, May 13, Meralco implemented emergency manual load dropping (MLD) or rotating power interruptions lasting an average of three hours starting 3:23 p.m. to manage the current system condition,” Meralco said.

“This has so far affected more than 200,000 customers in parts of Batangas, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Metro Manila, and Rizal,” the power distributor said.

In its latest update, the NGCP said it may implement rotating brownouts in the following areas “to maintain the integrity of the power system” from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.:

• LUECO (parts of La Union)
• ISECO (parts of Ilocos Sur)
• CENPELCO (parts of Pangasinan)
• ISELCO I (parts of Isabela)
• QUIRELCO (entire province of Quirino)
• BATELEC II (parts of Batangas)
• Ibaan Electric Corp. (parts of Batangas)
• PELCO II (parts of Pampanga)
• SFELAPCO (parts of Pampanga)
• OEDC (whole of Olongapo City)
• QUEZELCO I (parts of Quezon)
• MERALCO (parts of Metro Manila)

“Schedule may be cancelled if system condition improves, such as if actual demand falls below projections. NGCP encourages everyone to exercise prudence in using electricity,” the grid operator said.

Meralco said it has already requested its commercial and industrial customers under the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) to de-load to lessen the strain on the power grid.

“As of 3:40 PM, we have secured more than 240 MW of de-loading capacity under the ILP.

We continue to urge the public to continue practicing energy conservation and efficiency measures,” the power distributor said.

A red alert is the highest alert level and is declared when the electricity supply is insufficient to meet demand because 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. —LDF, GMA News