Rotating brownouts hit Luzon anew on May 15, 2026

Electricity consumers in Luzon should brace for power interruptions on Friday, the third time this week, as thin power supply brought by forced outages of power plants coupled with high demand due to hot dry season weather crippled the power grid in the country’s largest island.

In an advisory, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) said it might implement manual load dropping (MLD) or rotational brownouts from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. in the following areas:

• LUELCO (parts of La Union)
• ISELCO I (parts of Santiago City)
• ISELCO II (parts of City of Ilagan)
• CELCOR (parts of Cabanatuan City)
• AEC (parts of Angeles City)
• OEDC (whole of Olongapo City)
• IEC (parts of Batangas)
• ALECO (parts of Albay)
• MERALCO (parts of Metro Manila)

Another round of rotating brownouts are scheduled from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the following:

• LUELCO (parts of La Union)
• ABRECO (whole province of Abra)
• PANELCO III (parts of Pangasinan)
• CAGELCO 2 (parts of Cagayan)
• OEDC (whole of Olongapo City)
• CELCOR (parts of Cabanatuan City)
• AEC (parts of Angeles City)
• MERALCO (parts of Metro Manila)
• BATELEC I (parts of Batangas)
• QUEZELCO I (parts of Quezon)
• ALECO (parts of Albay)
• CANORECO (parts of Camarines Norte)

The NGCP might likewise implement MLD from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. in these areas:

• LUELCO (parts of La Union)
• ABRECO (whole province of Abra)
• PANELCO III (parts of Pangasinan)
• CAGELCO II (parts of Cagayan)
• OEDC (whole of Olongapo City)
• CELCOR (parts of Cabanatuan City)
• AEC (parts of Angeles City)
• MERALCO (parts of Metro Manila)
• QUEZELCO I (parts of Quezon)
• ALECO (parts of Albay)
• BATELEC I (parts of Batangas)
• CANORECO (parts of Camarines Norte)

The NGCP implements MLD to maintain the integrity of the power transmission system when power supply is insufficient to meet demand during a red alert status.

The grid operator hoisted yellow alert over Luzon from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. followed by red alert from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m., succeeded by another yellow alert from 11 p.m. to 12 a.m. on May 16.

The Luzon grid’s available capacity is at 12,075 MW against a peak demand of 12,927 MW, resulting in a deficiency of 852 MW.

This as the number of plants on forced outage since May has increased to 17, bring the total unavailable capacity to the grid to 4,828MW.

“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,” it said. — RSJ/AOL, GMA News