Rotating brownouts loom in Luzon on Thursday, May 14 afternoon

Electricity consumers in the Luzon power grid should brace for power interruptions on Thursday afternoon as thinning power supplies grip the country’s largest island.

In an advisory, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) announced it may implement manual load dropping (MLD) or rotational brownouts from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. to “maintain the integrity of the power system” in the following ares:

• ALECO (parts of Albay)
• BENECO (parts of Baguio City and Benguet)
• INEC (parts of Ilocos Norte)
• BATELEC II (parts of Batangas)
• ISELCO II (parts of Isabela)
• CAGELCO I (parts of Cagayan)
• MERALCO (parts of Metro Manila)

Another round of MLDs might be expected in the following areas from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.:

• BENECO (parts of Baguio City and Benguet)
• INEC (parts of Ilocos Norte)
• BATELEC II (parts of Batangas)
• ISELCO II (parts of Isabela)
• CAGELCO I (parts of Cagayan)
• ALECO (parts of Albay)
• PELCO I (parts of Pampanga)
• MERALCO (parts of Metro Manila)

The NGCP might likewise implement rotating brownouts from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the following:

• ALECO (parts of Albay)
• DECORP (parts of Pangasinan)
• CENPELCO (parts of Pangasinan)
• PANELCO III (parts of Pangasinan)
• BATELEC II (parts of Batangas)
• PENELCO (parts of Bataan)
• PELCO I (parts of Pampanga)
• PRESCO (parts of Pampanga)
• MERALCO (parts of Metro Manila)

Schedule may be canceled if system condition improves, such as if actual demand falls below projections.

NGCP encourages everyone to exercise prudence in using electricity.

The grid operator raised red alert over Luzon grid from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. followed by a yellow alert from 10 p.m. to 12 a.m. on May 15.

The alert statuses were hoisted as a total of 4,459 megawatts (MW) were unavailable to the grid due to the forced outage of 15 power plants since May, one since April, three since March, four since January, three since 2025, two since 2024, and one plant out since 2029 with 14 plants running on derated capacities.

The Luzon grid is running at an available capacity of 12,464 MW against a peak demand of 12,877 MW.

The NGCP said the scheduled MLD may be cancelled if system condition improves, “such as if actual demand falls below projections.”

“NGCP encourages everyone to exercise prudence in using electricity,” it said.

A red alert status is issued when power supply is insufficient to meet consumer demand and the transmission grid’s regulating requirement.

A yellow alert is issued when the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s contingency requirement. — RSJ, GMA News