Benise Balaoing

High voltage towers that support transmission lines for electrical power distribution in the Luzon grid is seen from a residential area in Baesa, Quezon City on Tuesday, May 9 2023. The National Grid Corporation declared a red alert status on the Luzon grid on Monday, raising the possibility of power shortage or brownouts in some provinces. The NGCP also said that three power plants are “running on derated capacities” and other five are “on forced outage”. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

ELECTRICITY-GRID

ABS-CBN News

<p>MANILA (UPDATE 9 P.M.) — Widespread power cuts struck the Philippines Friday, leaving millions without electricity in the tropical nation&#x27;s hottest month of the year. </p><p>The Luzon and Visayas grids were  on red and yellow alerts again on Friday, May 15. The schedule was as follows: </p><div style="line-height:1"><strong>LUZON GRID</strong></div><div style="line-height:1"><strong>Red alert</strong></div><p style="line-height:1">2 p.m. to 11 p.m.</p><p style="line-height:1">Yellow alert</p><p style="line-height:1">1 p.m. to 2 p.m.</p><p style="line-height:1">11 p.m. to 12 a.m.</p><div><strong>VISAYAS GRID</strong></div><div style="line-height:1"><strong>Red alert</strong></div><p style="line-height:1">3 p.m. to 9 p.m.</p><p style="line-height:1">Yellow alert</p><p style="line-height:1">9 p.m. to 11 p.m.</p><div style="line-height:1"><br/></div><p style="line-height:1">A yellow alert means plants are producing less than the grid&#x27;s contingency requirement. Red alert means generation is lower than demand, prompting rolling power outages.</p><p>The NGCP said that in Luzon, 17 plants have been on forced outage since May. One plant has been out since April, while 3 have been out since March. One plant has been out since February, and three have been out since January.</p><p>The NGCP said it may implement rotational brownout in the following areas: </p><div><strong>LUZON FROM 9 P.M. TO 10 P.M.</strong></div><ul style="list-style-type:disc"><li>ISECO (parts of Ilocos Sur)</li><li>ISELCO I (parts of Isabela)</li><li>QUIRELCO (entire province of Quirino)</li><li>CAGELCO II (parts of Cagayan and Apayao)</li><li>PENELCO (parts of Bataan)</li><li>TARELCO I (parts of Tarlac and Nueva Ecija)</li><li>BATELEC II (parts of Batangas) </li><li>CASURECO III and IV (parts of Camarines Sur)</li><li>MERALCO (parts of Metro Manila)</li></ul><div><br/></div><p>Meralco said that as of 6 p.m., more than 540,000 of its customers in parts of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Metro Manila, Quezon and Rizal had been affected.</p><p>Meanwhile, in Visayas, 15 plants have been on forced outage since May, while 1 has been out since March.</p><p>Available capacity in Visayas is at about 2,379MW, while peak demand is expected to reach 2,574MW. </p><p>The NGCP said it may implement manual load dropping in the following areas in Visayas:</p><div><strong>VISAYAS FROM 3 P.M. TO 10 P.M.</strong></div><ul style="list-style-type:disc"><li>VECO</li><li>MECO</li><li>CEBECO I</li><li>CEBECO II</li><li>CEBECO III</li><li>NEPC</li><li>NOCECO</li><li>NORECO I</li><li>NORECO II</li><li>NONECO</li><li>MORE</li><li>AKELCO</li><li>ANTECO</li><li>CAPELCO</li><li>ILECO I</li><li>ILECO II</li><li>ILECO III</li><li>GUIMELCO</li><li>LEYECO II</li><li>SOLECO</li><li>DORELCO</li><li>LEYECO III</li><li>LEYECO IV</li><li>LEYECO V</li><li>ESAMELCO</li><li>BILECO</li><li>NORSAMELCO</li><li>SAMELCO I</li><li>SAMELCO II</li><li>BLCI</li><li>BOHECO I</li><li>BOHECO II</li></ul><p>&quot;The public deserves a complete accounting of incidents of this magnitude,&quot; Energy Secretary Sharon Garin said in a statement. </p><p>&quot;We will ensure that all operational, technical, and compliance dimensions are fully examined and that appropriate actions are taken where warranted,&quot; she added.</p><p>Garin did not say when the power supply will return to normal. </p><p>Luzon accounts for almost half of the Philippine population of 116 million, as well as economic output. </p><p>The outages are occurring in the hottest month of the year, when demand for air conditioning ramps up.</p><p>The power cuts occurred even though Philippine government agencies are observing a four-day work week, imposed shortly after the start of the Iran-US-Israel war.</p><p>- With a report from Agence France-Presse</p>

Brownouts roll across Luzon, Visayas

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Brownouts roll across Luzon, Visayas

Benise Balaoing,

ABS-CBN News

Published May 15, 2026 09:38 AM PHT

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Updated May 15, 2026 09:15 PM PHT

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red alert

yellow alert

heat index

Luzon grid

Visayas grid

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