At least 121 power plants risk sanctions after failing to respond to Department of Energy (DOE) show cause orders over missed regulatory reporting, as regulators tighten compliance oversight across the power sector.

Energy Secretary Sharon Garin said Monday that 114 on-grid power plants and seven off-grid facilities have yet to take any action after receiving show cause orders for failing to submit their required annual self-assessment reports.

"Out of the 174 show cause orders sent to on-grid plants, 114 companies have taken no action. They did not even respond or request an extension. These 114 will be evaluated, and we will take the proper action against them should they be unable to justify their non-compliance," Garin told reporters. 

She added that the DOE's legal department will determine whether penalties are warranted.

"We will determine whether they should be penalized, but this will be assessed by our legal department," Garin said.

Of the remaining on-grid facilities issued notices, 37 responded to the show cause orders, five requested extensions, and 18 acknowledged receipt of the notices.

Meanwhile, Garin said seven of the 29 off-grid power plants that received show cause orders also failed to respond.

"Out of the 29 show cause orders issued in the off-grid areas, seven have not responded, meaning they have not taken any action on our communication and our show cause orders," she said.

The non-responsive off-grid facilities include plants operated by Occidental Mindoro Consolidated Power Corp. in Occidental Mindoro, Ormin Power Inc. in Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro, and the National Power Corp. in Basilan through the Kumalarang Mini-Hydropower Plant. 

"We are currently assessing these generation companies and their records, and we will further update you on what actions we will take against these non-compliant companies," Garin said.

DOE Legal Counsel Gabriel Corpuz said the department already issued a total of 203 show cause orders under Department Circular No. 2026-02-0006, covering 174 on-grid and 29 off-grid generating plants on a per-plant basis.

"As of today, we have issued 174 show cause orders to on-grid power generators and 29 show cause orders to off-grid generators. This is on a per-plant basis. So, a total of 203 show cause orders," Corpuz said.

He clarified that the notices are not findings of liability but stem from the generators' failure to file the required annual self-assessment forms.

"These show cause orders do not mean that the generation companies are guilty of forced outages, recurring capacity deratings, or other violations. It simply means that they failed to submit the required annual self-assessment form," Corpuz said.

The reports were originally due on 31 March, but the DOE extended the submission deadline to 24 April.

Corpuz said the department will first evaluate the submitted self-assessment forms before determining whether any violations were committed and whether sanctions should be imposed.

"Based on the submissions, if they comply, the DOE will still have to assess them and determine whether there are violations. That is when the DOE will determine whether the generation companies should be penalized," he said.