Visayas grid faces rotating brownouts on May 15, 2026

Electricity consumers in the Visayas power grid should expect power interruptions on Friday afternoon until evening amid yellow and red alerts due to supply deficiencies brought by tipping of several power plants.

In an advisory, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines said it might implement manual load dropping (MLD) or rotating brownouts "maintain the integrity of the power system” from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the following areas:

• VECO
• MECO
• CEBECO I
• CEBECO II
• CEBECO III
• NEPC
• NOCECO
• NORECO I
• NORECO II
• NONECO
• MORE
• AKELCO
• ANTECO
• CAPELCO
• ILECO I
• ILECO II
• ILECO III
• GUIMELCO
• LEYECO II
• SOLECO
• DORELCO
• LEYECO III
• LEYECO IV
• LEYECO V
• ESAMELCO
• BILECO
• NORSAMELCO
• SAMELCO I
• SAMELCO II
• BLCI
• BOHECO I
• BOHECO II

“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 said.

The rotational power interruptions followed the declaration of yellow and red alert over the Visayas as the grid runs at a capacity of 2,379 megawatts (MW) against a peak demand of 2,574 MW, resulting in a supply deficiency of 195 MW.

The NGCP said 15 plants are on forced outage since May 2026, one since March 2026, four since 2025, two since 2024, two since 2023, one since 2021, while 11 are running on derated capacities, “for a total of 883.1 MW unavailable to the grid.”

The Visayas grid’s power situation was aggravated by the tripping of PDPP1 U5 (5 MW), Carmen Diesel U1 (10 MW), PDPP3 C (12MW), PDPP3 G (13 MW), coupled with an increase in forecasted demand. — RSJ, GMA News