Gov’t studies possible sanctions vs. NGCP, power plants over Panay outage

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 6) — The government is looking into possible violations of the privately-owned National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), as well as the operators of several power plants, in the wake of the Panay sub-grid failure that resulted in a region-wide blackout.

Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) Chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta on Saturday said the investigation into the latest power outage may be completed in six to eight weeks.

She explained this was the amount of time it took for the probe into power interruptions that also hit Western Visayas in April 2023.

The NGCP earlier defended itself, saying this week’s outage was not its fault and that its mandate is to provide transmission services and not intervene in power generation.

However, Dimalanta argued that the transmission service provider is also mandated to handle system operations.

“Ang ibig sabihin po nito, nasa prangkisa mismo nila at nasa EPIRA (Electric Power Industry Reform Act) na ang trabaho po ng system operator ay paniguruhin ang safe and reliable operation of the grid,” she told reporters in a forum.

[Translation: This means that it was stated in the franchise agreement and in the EPIRA that the work of a system operator is to ensure safe and reliable operation of the grid.]

Even if the NGCP is being primarily blamed for the outage by authorities, including President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the power plants are not off the hook, the ERC chief said.

“Hindi rin natin basta ine-excuse na, for example, ‘yung mga planta,” Dimalanta said.

“Meron po ba doon na hindi nag-maintain ng standards? For example, meron po ba doon bumitaw nang mas maaga sa nire-require under the grid code na bumitaw siya?’ she also said. “Pag po ganun, may penalty din po siya.”

[Translation: We’re not simply excusing, for example, the power plants. Was there any that did not maintain standards? For example, was there any that went offline earlier than what was required under the grid code? If so, they should also be a penalized.]

According to the official, the Interim Grid Management Committee, the same technical group that handled the investigation last year, is leading the inquiry.

The NGCP announced on Friday afternoon that power supply in Panay and Guimaras Islands has been restored and that transmission operations were back to normal.

Responding to the criticisms, the NGCP said that public officials do not know the full situation.

“Kami ay naniniwala kung maihain sa pangulo ang buong storya, ay siguro mauunawaan niya na hindi simple yung sitwasyon,” NGCP spoksperson Cynthia Alabanza told CNN Philippines’ Newsroom Weekend. “Kasi ang NGCP ay kumikilos kami ayon sa datos.”

[Translation: We believe that if the president knows the whole story, he would understand that the situation was not simple. Because we in NGCP act based on data.]

“So the system as far as transmission was concerned, was normal and walang glitch sa transmission [nung January 2],” she added. “So hindi namin alam kung bakit nag-trip yung planta.”

[Translation: So the system as far as transmission was concerned, was normal and there was no glitch in the transmission. So we are not sure why the plants tripped.]