Consumers are warned of a possible increase in power rates this September after a series of Yellow Alert Status advisories from the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) last August.
Just last month, NGCP issued four yellow alert advisories in between August 1 and 6.
This power rate increase can be felt across the Visayas and not just in Iloilo alone.
According to Mr. Niel Parcon, Vice President for Corporate Energy Sourcing and Regulatory Affairs of MORE Power, NGCP issues a yellow alert when the supply margin falls below the capacity of the largest generating unit in the grid. This indicates that available supply is insufficient to meet demand securely, especially amid rising demand.
This means if the supply is thin, the cost of power in the spot market increases.
As the region grapples with these challenges, officials are calling for greater investment in renewable energy sources to ensure a more stable and sustainable power supply in the future.
“Unfortunately last month, starting August 1, nagsaka ang presyo sang aton nga kuryente, which is the result sang pagkulang sang supply sang aton sa market sa bilog nga Pilipinas. Actually indi lang ni sa Visayas, indi lang ni sa bilog nga Iloilo City, bilog ini nga Pilipinas, unfortunately ang hard hit ang Visayas and kapin pa sa Panay kay ara kita sa tail end sang transmission line network sang NGCP,” says Parcon.
Because of the thin supply margin in the Visayas, the grid has to get supply from Luzon, Negros, and Mindanao just to support the needs in Panay Island.
NGCP was able to secure 2,528 megawatts in contrast with 2,475 megawatts consumption, leaving only a margin of 53 megawatts, which is critical.
The Department of Energy confirmed that there are 14 generation facilities, including coal plants, that went offline.
“Ginahambal ta nga tungod sina, nagsaka ang presyo sang kuryente kay ti syempre nagkulang na. Suppliers market, and tanan nga naga-bid sa aton nga merkado nagapataas-taas na presyo kay ti bal-an nila kulang. So typical, amu na sa law of supply and demand scenario, very different na sya sa previous months nga tama man kadako sang aton nga supply,” says Parcon.
MORE Power is a distribution utility that purchases power supply from these generation plants to support the needs of its consumers.
One of the primary solutions to fix the problem in power supply is to put up its own generation plants to have a stable power supply.
According to Parcon, MORE Power is doing everything it can to maintain having the lowest power rate in Panay.
Parcon assured the public that they are carefully monitoring the cost of power generation facilities so that in the next billing cycle, the power rates will gradually return to normal.