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President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. on Friday blamed the recent blackout in Western Visayas on the failure of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) in maintaining grid stability in the region.
In a video message, the chief executive said the NGCP was unable to initiate the needed manual load dropping which would have prevented power disruptions in Panay Island last Tuesday.
“NGCP’s failure to act during the crucial two-hour window is a missed opportunity. As the systems operator, NGCP must proactively engage with distribution utilities and cooperatives to manage loads and prevent such system collapses,” Marcos said.
He noted the incident crippled businesses and endangered the lives of those who need healthcar in Panay Island before power in area was restored this week.
Last April, a similar incident occurred in Panay Island, which resulted to a review of NGCP’s performance.
NGCP noted the issue will be addressed with the completion of the Panay-Negros-Cebu interconnection, which was supposed to be completed in August 2023.
“However, we find ourselves in January 2024, far from the promised completion date of August 2023, and we are still, still hoping for the Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection by late January of 2024,” Marcos said.
“Accountability lies with the NGCP. They are tasked with grid stability. Stability involves proactive responses to breakdowns and unexpected events, a duty that NGCP unfortunately has not fulfilled adequately,” he added.
The President reiterated his call for better service from NGCP by being transparent to its stakeholders on the weakness of its systems.
He also directed the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to complete the pending reset of NGCP’s rates, which is expected to result in lower transmission charges to consumers.
In 2022, NGCP voluntarily filed an application for the resetting of its transmission rates charged to its customers.
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