Amid criticism, Cusi says he's monitoring Luzon power situation

Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi on Wednesday said that he and the Department of Energy (DOE) are addressing the thin power supply hounding the Luzon grid amid criticisms that he is more focused on politics.

“I’m aware of the situation and I trust the DOE people, officers… hindi natin napapabayaan ang trabaho [we are not neglecting our duty] and with the technology kahit nasa [even if I’m in] Cebu, we are monitoring, working and deciding,” Cusi said during the virtual Kapihan sa Manila Bay.

Bayan Muna party-list Representative Carlos Isagani Zarate has called on Cusi to address the thin power supply in Luzon instead of attending to intramurals in the ruling PDP-Laban. 

Cusi, who sits as a vice chairman PDP-Laban, presided over the ruling party’s national council meeting on Monday in Cebu, when the council adopted a resolution calling on President Rodrigo Duterte to run for vice president in the 2022 elections.

The meeting coincided with the raising of red and yellow alerts over Luzon due to thin power supply caused by planned and unplanned outages of several power plants.

“Sana ang pagsolusyon dito ang inuuna ni Sec. Cusi hindi yung banggayan sa partido nila para mas tumagal pa si President Rodrigo Duterte sa poder,"  Zarate had said.

The supply deficiency prompted the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines to implement rotational brownouts in some areas in Luzon to maintain the integrity of the electricity system. The grid operator also said that the situation may persist until June 7.

Nonetheless, Cusi assured the public that “the DOE is addressing the issue of electricity not just for now but for the years to come.”

He explained that the yellow and red alerts resulted from unforeseen outages of some power plants that have a total capacity of about 1,600 megawatts.

“Para ma-maintain ang integrity ng grid (To maintain the integrity of our grid), our transmission operator needs to implement rotational brownout,” Cusi said.

He said rotational brownouts or spreading the schedule of power interruptions to several areas are necessary to avoid the occurrence of a longer brownout in a single place.

The Energy chief said the DOE’s technical team is already looking into the power plants that went on forced outage.

He added that the DOE also sought assistance from the Philippine Competition Commission and the Energy Regulatory Commission to find out if there are any lapses. —KBK, GMA News