17 April 2016

The Department of Energy (DOE) expresses its appreciation to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), Manila Electric Company (MERALCO) and the participants of the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) for their cooperation in hurdling a critical power supply situation in Luzon on 15 April 2016.

Under the ILP, big load customers of Distribution Utilities and Electric Cooperatives registered in the program run their stand-by generation sets in times of energy supply deficiency to prevent power outages.

The ILP was implemented in the MERALCO area on April 15 to stabilize the power supply situation following the "red alert" notice of NGCP from the period of 1p.m. to 3p.m. last Friday.

With ILP, the peak demand was arrested at a lower level of 9,416 MW. A total of 247 MW of power was deloaded from 121 participants, so an estimated 290,000 customers in Metro Manila and nearby provinces were spared of rotating brownouts.

The high and increasing heat index triggered the unusual rise in demand for power, where Luzon alone reached around 9,700 megawatts (MW) breaching historical records.

In this line, the DOE earnestly calls on the cooperation of electricity consumers to be efficient users not only during the summer period, but all throughout the year. Historically, power consumption spikes during hot summer months as more consumers spend time in their homes and use cooling equipment to make them feel comfortable.