House panel to probe Visayas blackouts, PHP 1.04 reserve fee

By Glazyl M. Jopson

BACOLOD CITY — The House Committee on Energy will hold a briefing Wednesday, Sept. 16, on the continuing power outages in the Visayas grid and on the ancillary service charges being passed on to consumers, Negros Occidental 3rd District Rep. Javier Miguel “Javi” Benitez said.

The committee, chaired by Palawan Rep. Jose Alvarez, has invited the Department of Energy, the National Electrification Administration, the Energy Regulatory Commission, the National Power Corporation, the National Transmission Corporation, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines, the Philippine Electricity Market Corporation, and the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines.

The agencies have been asked to account for the region’s recurring yellow and red alerts and to detail the ancillary services actually procured and billed to electricity consumers.

Under NGCP terminology, a red alert indicates that contingency reserves have fallen to zero or that a generation deficiency exists, while a yellow alert means reserves are below the required level.

Ancillary services are the reserve and support services the system operator contracts to hold grid frequency and voltage steady when demand spikes or a generating unit trips offline. The cost is recovered from electricity consumers through their monthly bills.

An NGCP report has identified Cebu as the grid’s weak link, citing a simulated evening peak shortfall of 422 megawatts. The Visayas grid serves Panay, Negros, Cebu, Bohol, Leyte, and Samar, and is linked to Luzon through a high-voltage direct current interconnection.

Javi Benitez filed House Resolution 1430 directing the committee to investigate the contracting, procurement, and financial settlement of power reserves across the Visayas.

The resolution flags a PHP 1.04 per kilowatt-hour ancillary reserve fee charged to retail consumers despite the grid’s repeated red alerts.

“Why consumers continue to shoulder fees for spinning and contingency reserves meant to guarantee grid stability even as some areas log up to nine hours of rotational brownouts?” he asked.

Lawmakers are seeking a full accounting of how the reserves were contracted, which firms were paid, and why those reserves were not reliably deployed during forced outages.

Meanwhile, his father, Bacolod lone district Rep. Alfredo “Albee” Benitez, who serves as deputy speaker, said the House Committee on Visayas Development is expected to begin its own inquiry into the worsening outages tentatively next week.

Albee Benitez recently filed a resolution directing that committee to conduct a probe in aid of legislation on the power outages, seek accountability, and ensure a stable, adequate, and reliable power supply for the region.

He said the panel agreed during a Sept. 10 discussion to act motu proprio and will seek approval from the Committee on Rules to set the hearing next week.

Energy Secretary Sharon Garin has expressed intent to attend the hearing to present her plan for the Visayas grid, Albee Benitez said. Garin, a former AAMBIS-Owa party-list representative and Energy undersecretary, was appointed to the post in 2025.

“She wants to be present because she already have a plan for the Visayas grid,” he added.

Albee Benitez noted in the resolution that the Visayas grid has registered at least 93 yellow alerts and 30 red alerts since the start of the year, as of Sept. 3.

He said lawmakers are doing their homework to pinpoint the problems, gaps, and failures, and to determine the remedy moving forward. These include short-term and long-term plans, he added.

The two lawmakers noted that the recurring alerts and rotating interruptions have disrupted households, businesses, hospitals, schools, farms, water systems, and public services across the Visayas.