Senators are determined to end the dysfunctional cycle of outages and expensive power costs as the Senate Committee
on Energy on Wednesday began a “motu proprio” investigation into the widespread blackout on Panay Island on 2 January.

Senators are determined to end the dysfunctional cycle of outages and expensive power costs as the Senate Committee on Energy on Wednesday began a “motu proprio” investigation into the widespread blackout on Panay Island on 2 January.

The panel, chaired by Senator Raffy Tulfo, seeks to identify the “causes of the power failure” in the Western Visayas region and to push for a comprehensive plan of action to resolve the power crisis.

During the hearing, Tulfo emphasized the huge impact of the three-day power interruption on the region, citing the local government unit’s assessments following the blackout.

“Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas said that Iloilo alone stands to lose P1.5 billion due to the three-day power outage. I can only imagine what the people of Panay Island went through. We owe it to them that this won’t be repeated,” Tulfo said, as he recalled a similar incident in April last year that affected the same area.

Senator Risa Hontiveros said the massive power interruption significantly affected businesses in the region, with about P1.5 billion in losses logged.

“We hope our investigation will answer the primary question of our countrymen: What happened, and who is to blame for the total blackout on Panay and Guimaras islands? And more importantly, how can we be sure that a blackout will not happen again in the coming weeks and months, especially with the summer season coming?” she said in Filipino.

Franchise review

She urged a review of the legislative franchise of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines should the Senate’s investigation confirm the “negligence or incompetence” of the grid that resulted in the power shutdown.

“It is time for the dysfunctional cycle of blackouts and expensive power costs to end. If the NGCP is the stumbling block to the goal of attaining cheap and reliable power for every Filipino, then it is time to remove this block,” she said.

Meanwhile, Senator Win Gatchalian said there is a need to assess “whether it is necessary to remove the NGCP’s systems operation function and give it to another entity.”

Gatchalian said separating NGCP’s systems operation function would enable the agency to focus on its transmission network provider function.

“The national grid is the sole backbone for transmitting electricity across the country, and any failure to operate has wide-ranging effects on the economy, public safety, and national security,” he added.

Senator Francis Tolentino backed Hontiveros’s and Gatchalian’s call to revisit Republic Act 9511, which granted NGCP a franchise to operate.

“NGCP’s failure to immediately acknowledge its shortcomings in managing the Panay power outage further erodes trust and raises concerns about their commitment to transparency in addressing systems issues within their operations,” he said.

Citing technical reports that he received, Senator Francis Escudero suggested the need to review the National Grid Code.

He said the power plants, the transmission of power plants to NGCP, and the power distributors to consumers have significant roles in the distribution of electric supplies.

“Because if it is still within the reach provided for in the national grid code in so far as frequency, voltage, unbalanced, and two other factors that determine these three, correct me if I’m wrong — but the system operator is not allowed by the national grid code to make any interventions,” he added.

Escudero noted that the system operator can only make interventions if it is beyond the range.

“The same is true for the power plant, it can’t do an unscheduled shutdown on its own. It has to inform and follow the national grid code,” he said.

Escudero said the power plants can do an unscheduled electricity shutdown “if it only affects frequency and is silent about imbalance and voltage.”

“This needs to be clarified so that protocols can be established to avoid similar incidents from occurring in the future,” he said.