The supply of electricity in Panay island was restored at past 3 p.m. on January 2, 2024 after three unscheduled interruptions brought about by the fluctuation of power supply. However, the rolling blackout is going on as not all of the affected areas have been served with power supply yet.

Aside from power outages in Iloilo City, the blackout was also experienced in the Provinces of Iloilo, Antique, Aklan, Capiz, Guimaras, and a portion of Negros Occidental.

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines released an advisory of the trip-offs in their power plants in Panay island which isolated the area from the Visayas grid.

According to Atty. Cynthia Alabanza, spokesperon of NGCP, four of its power plants tripped off.

"Apat na malalaking planta ang nawala sa sistema," Atty. Alabanza said in a phone interview of "Balitanghali" over GTV.

However, the NGCP has not determined yet the cause of the multiple power plant trip-offs.

"Ongoing pa po yung investigation na ginagawa natin sa mga pangyayari sa Panay island," she added.

Load restoration by 3 p.m. was carried out by power distribution utilities in a manner that would prevent voltage failure, based on capacity offered by the Panay Energy Development Corporation (PEDC) Unit 2. 

Alabanza said that as of 10 a.m. of January 3, 2024, 84 percent of the capacity of PEDC Unit 2 is offering 70 megawatts.

"Shortly after that, nag-umpisa na po yung Unit 1 nila, kasalukuyang 34.3 percent yung ginagawang kuryente. Pero ang PEDC Unit 3 ay naka-schedule po ang maintenance shutdown so wala po talagang ginagawa, 150 megawatts po yun. At ang ikaapat na planta, na may 135 megawatts, wala pa siyang operation sa kasalukuyan," Alabanza further pointed out.

NGCP issued a yellow alert from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. on January 2, 2024.

Yellow alert is issued when the “operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid's regulating and contingency requirement.”

A yellow alert means that NGCP may “implement manual load dropping" and that rotational brownouts are expected until the supply of electricity returns to normal.

Earlier, Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas expressed his dismay over the unscheduled power interruptions and vowed to bring up the concern to the Department of Energy, NGCP, and the Infrastructure Development Committee of the Regional Development Council 6.

(With reports from Zen Quilantang/GMA Regional TV One Western Visayas; Balitanghali)