Dennis Gaviola

Line men work on cleaning power lines over the Tagaytay Ridge overlooking Taal Lake in Batangas on January 27, 2020. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

Arthur Fuentes

ABS-CBN News

MANILA (UPDATE 2) – Metro Manila residents faced sudden electricity outages on Thursday as Meralco reported a &quot;temporary system imbalance.&quot;Meralco later posted that as of 3:01 p.m., power had been restored to affected areas. The country&#x27;s power grid operator, meanwhile, said the Luzon grid was put on &#x27;yellow alert&#x27; from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Visayas was also put on yellow alert from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.The alert means that the available power is not enough to meet the grid&#x27;s contingency requirement, thus raising the likelihood of outages.The yellow alerts for both grids were lifted around 7:30 p.m, according to the National Grid Corp of the Philippines. The NGCP said Luzon&#x27;s power grid was put on yellow alert after the tripping of three power plants, namely: EERI 1, 2, 3; Ilijan Block A; and Ilijan Block B. Several hydropower plants were also unavailable, with 35 plants on forced outage; and 14 are running on reduced or derated capacities, for a total of 5137.2MW unavailable to the grid. Visayas was also put on yellow alert due to the unavailability of power import from Luzon via HVDC, the NGCP said.Meralco earlier issued an urgent advisory citing a &quot;sudden plant outage&quot; as the cause of the disruption. The power distributor urged customers to monitor its official social media channels for real-time updates, noting that power should automatically come back within 15 minutes. However, it advised those remaining in the dark for longer periods to contact customer care agents via direct message.The Philippines’ power grid frequently comes under strain during peak demand months, often leading to &quot;red&quot; or &quot;yellow&quot; alerts when reserves dip to critical levels.Energy Secretary Sharon Garin has directed the operators of the affected power plants to immediately restore these plants.The DOE said it also directed the NGCP, generation companies, and system operators to facilitate the timely return of the affected units, stabilize available supply, and avert any prolonged impact on consumers. The NGCP earlier said that it doesn&#x27;t expect any <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/business/2026/4/15/power-grid-yellow-red-alert-unlikely-until-june-ngcp-1907" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">yellow or red alerts </a>until June.

Metro Manila residents faced sudden electricity outages on Thursday as Meralco reported a "temporary system imbalance."

Metro Manila residents faced sudden electricity outages on Thursday as Meralco reported a "temporary system imbalance."

Yellow alert raised over Luzon, Visayas as power outages hit parts of Metro Manila

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Yellow alert raised over Luzon, Visayas as power outages hit parts of Metro Manila

Arthur Fuentes,

ABS-CBN News

Published April 16, 2026 03:33 PM PHT

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Updated April 16, 2026 08:50 PM PHT

Read More:

Meralco

power outage

NGCP

brownout

Luzon grid

Visayas grid

yellow alert

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