Persistent power alerts in the Visayas have prompted the Philippine Rural Electric Cooperatives Association Inc. (PHILRECA) to call for major government-led structural reforms in the energy sector. The association said the ongoing electricity instability across the region stems from systemic issues that local distribution utilities cannot solve on their own.
PHILRECA highlighted several pressing challenges contributing to the crisis, including generation deficits, lack of power reserves, transmission bottlenecks, and soaring electricity rates. While acknowledging that emergency load shedding is sometimes required to keep the grid from collapsing, the group insisted that temporary blackouts must not become the standard fix for balancing power supply.
To address the recurring shortages, the association urged energy regulators and officials to enforce stronger accountability for delayed power projects. PHILRECA proposed that the government step in by allowing state entities like the National Power Corporation to operate ancillary services when private energy providers fall short. The group clarified that state involvement in ancillary services—which act as a safety net when power plants trip—is not a full government takeover of generation, but rather a targeted backstop to protect grid security during reserve shortages.
The call for reform comes as the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines placed the Visayas grid under renewed red and yellow alerts on Wednesday. Available capacity dropped to 2,536 megawatts against an expected peak demand of 2,538 megawatts, largely due to eight power plants going on forced outage and 15 others operating at reduced capacity, stripping over 774 megawatts from the regional grid.
