Electricity

MANILA, Philippines – The entire Philippine grid – not just Mindanao – has turned out to be unstable, with power plants bogging down one after another. In a report, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) said reserves in the Luzon and the Visayas grids normalized on Tuesday only to get depleted again yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – The power deficiency in Mindanao has doubled, raising fears of longer blackouts as well as massive business disruptions. The surge in Mindanao’s power deficiency to 578 megawatts (MW) came as electricity supply in Luzon and the Visayas started to normalize yesterday.

Bagumbayan vice presidential bet Bayani Fernando said poor engineering and the incompetence of government officials are to blame for the frequent power outages nationwide.

I did not quite get Rep. Rufus Rodriguez’s point when he asked the President to declare a state of emergency in Mindanao due to the rotating brownouts.

A prolonged dry spell is expected to further worsen the already critical power supply in southern Mindanao, a power firm executive said on Wednesday.

Power supply in Mindanao, Visayas critical A lack of power supply hovers above the whole of the country’s main island of Luzon because of power-plant outages blamed on maintenance shutdown, technical problems and low water levels from the El Niño phenomenon.

Dinner by candle-light on Valentine’s Day? Ah, wouldn’t that be so romantic? Yes, but only if you’re dining at some fine restaurant and not eating at home, where the power has suddenly been cut off because you can’t pay your electric bill. And the light of your life has blown her fuse and is now…

The National Electric Administration has the authority to designate its officials and employees to electric co-operatives provided that they do not collect allowances or monetary benefits from these private enterprises.

Some of you are old enough to remember the eight-to-12-hour daily blackouts as Cory Aquino’s term ended. Blackouts caused because no new power plants had been built for years. Economists estimated that the blackouts cost the country around P3 to 5 billion daily in lost business and contracted the 1992 Gross National Product by three…

CONSUMERS should brace for higher power rates due to an impending shortage of electricity and the onset of a hot and dry summer, industry representatives said Thursday.

The Department of Energy (DOE) and power sector players have agreed to tap oil-fed and other costlier generating facilities to ensure the country’s supply of electricity.

MANILA, Philippines – Six major provinces have no telecommunication link to transmit election results from polling precincts to canvassing centers, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said yesterday.

Transmission fiasco feared with 5,000 signal jammers Alarmed by reports that 5,000 signal jammers have been imported into the country, possibly to disrupt transmission of the election data on the scheduled polls date, Commission on Elections spokesman James Jimenez expressed fears on prospects for their use yesterday, but nevertheless assured the public that the Comelec…

BALANGA CITY, Bataan, Philippines – The National Electrification Administration (NEA) has announced that the country has achieved 99.4 percent energizing at the barangay level.

The intent toward ending the monopoly of state-run National Power Corporation (NPC) is about to be accomplished, but deregulation cost impacts may still pinch Filipino consumers’ pockets primarily the estimated P471 billion stranded debts which will eventually be passed on as additional line item in electricity bills.

MANILA, Philippines – The Aboitiz Group and a number of foreign power firms have joined hands to further improve efforts to maintain operational and environmental safety at the Aboitiz- run power facilities.

TRANSCO OWNERS: Transparency dictates that the public be told the identity of the influential persons involved in the conglomerate that is taking over the state-owned National Transmission Corp. or Transco.

MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Manuel Roxas II debunked yesterday the claims of Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes that a power shortage would occur next year. “I am monitoring the power sector because this is one of the most sensitive parameters for investors,” he said.

MANILA, Philippines – With still unresolved power problem in Visayas, Mindanao is now suffering from rotating brownouts. Government officials yesterday confirmed reports of scheduled power outages in major portions of Mindanao after several power plants in the area are currently on a “shutdown mode.”

The lingering global crisis has bought enough time to build new power plants in Luzon and Mindanao that was anticipated earlier to suffer electricity shortages very soon.

MANILA, Philippines – For five straight months, customers of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) will be paying less for their electricity bills, a company official said yesterday.

BAGUIO CITY: President Gloria Arroyo this week ordered the Department of Energy and the National Electrification Administration (NEA) to complete electrification of the remaining 743 rural barangay nationwide before the yearend.

TWO in every five Filipino families below the poverty line do not have electricity in their homes, according to the National Statistics Office (NSO).

The government expects to complete the country’s rural electrification program or the electrification of all Philippine barangays (villages) before the yearends.

MANILA, Philippines – The power situation in Mindanao is nearing critical stage as supply can barely cope up with surging demand, according to the Department of Energy (DOE).

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines has overtaken Japan as the country with the highest electricity cost in Asia, a party-list congressman said yesterday.

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MANILA, Philippines – Electricity rates are likely to go down by P1 per kilowatthour (kwh) once the twin power reduction bills authored by Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile are passed, the lawmaker said yesterday.

The electronics industry has again called on the government to bring down electricity rates to make the country’s exporters more competitive amid an expected recovery of global demand.

The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) recently allowed the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) to raise its electricity rates by 25 centavos a kilowatt-hour (kWh). The increase under the company’s performance based regulation will be reflected in its May billing to its customers.