DOE urges conscious consumption during holidays

By Rjay Zuriaga Castor

The Department of Energy (DOE) is urging households and local governments across the Visayas to practice conscious electricity consumption this Christmas season, as heightened demand may trigger more yellow alerts in December.

Lourdes Arciaga, head of the DOE’s Visayas Energy Resource Development and Utilization Division, said the holiday surge in electricity use from Christmas lights, decorations, and increased household activities will further strain the Visayas grid’s already thin power reserves.

“We want to appeal to the public to balance it, especially on unnecessary activities,” she said in an interview on Monday, Dec. 1. “We have to be conscious […] Let’s enjoy the holidays, but we have to really put in our mind our energy consumption.”

Arciaga stressed that proper scheduling of high-consumption tasks is essential to avoid additional pressure on the grid, citing ironing clothes during off-peak hours as an example of reducing household demand.

She also encouraged households and local governments to use solar-powered LED lights for their Christmas displays to help ease the load.

“Our margin, our reserves now in Visayas, is too thin,” she said. “We all know that when it comes to the Visayas grid, Panay, which includes Iloilo, is at the end of the grid.”

Being at the end of the grid means Panay Island sits at the farthest point of the transmission network, making it more vulnerable to supply disruptions. This has already been demonstrated during the 2024 blackouts across the island.

Data from the Nov. 30 power situation outlook by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) showed the Visayas grid’s evening operating margin at -27.47 megawatts.

A negative operating margin indicates that electricity consumption exceeds available supply from power plants connected to the grid.

Operating margins at this level signal that peak demand cannot be met along with the required contingency reserve, often prompting a yellow alert to maintain system stability.

Arciaga said that NGCP figures show that power demand in Western Visayas, including Negros Occidental, increased by 10.7%, or 465,283 megawatt-hours (MWh).

The region’s power demand reached 4,357,827.47 MWh in 2023 and 4,823,110.91 MWh in 2024.