Next DOE chief should address 'basic' problem of power supply —Gatchalian

President-elect Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. should appoint an Energy secretary who will ensure that the problem of power supply in the country will be addressed, Senate energy committee chairman Sherwin Gatchalian said Wednesday.

The lawmaker made the statement after the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) placed Luzon Grid under yellow alert status.

Gatchalian took a swipe at the outgoing Department of Energy leadership for not addressing the problem after six years of the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.

"This is not a good sign because after six years of the incumbent DOE, ganon pa rin (the problem still persists). Patapos na ang kanilang termino (their term is about to end), red alert, yellow alert pa rin," the senator noted.

"The next administration should really appoint a secretary who will deal with these red alerts and yellow alerts. This is very basic e," he said.

Gatchalian explained that low power supply will not help the country in attracting foreign investors.

"With yellow alerts, red alerts, we cannot invite investors. Ibig sabihin wala tayong kuryente (This means we don't have enough power supply). So this is a fundamental problem that the next DOE secretary should address and it can be addressed by making sure that we have a power supply and by making sure that the plants are operating at a hundred percent," he added.

The NGCP on Wednesday announced that they extended the yellow alert status of the Luzon grid until 5 p.m. on June 22.

It was  originally set from 12:00 noon to 4 p.m.

A yellow alert status indicates that the grid has thin reserves based on the difference between supply and demand, with 11,959 megawatts of available capacity versus the 11,350 megawatts peak demand.—AOL, GMA News