(DC file photo)
Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian on Monday urged the Energy Regulatory Commission to investigate persistent power supply shortages in the Visayas and Mindanao that have pushed electricity spot market prices well above those in Luzon.
Gatchalian said average Wholesale Electricity Spot Market prices from July 26 to Aug. 25 stood at Php 4.80 per kilowatt-hour in Luzon, compared with Php 18.59 per kWh in the Visayas and Php 19.56 per kWh in Mindanao.
“Kung saan pa mataas ang poverty rates, sila pa ang nagbabayad ng mas mataas na kuryente,” Gatchalian said, attributing the price disparity to tight power supply.
Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines data showed that tighter supply margins, generation outages and transmission constraints contributed to the sharp rise in spot market prices in the Visayas and Mindanao during the August billing period.
The Visayas grid recorded 33 red alerts and 96 yellow alerts from Jan. 1 to Sept. 7, according to Gatchalian. A red alert indicates that available power supply is insufficient to meet demand and required reserves, while a yellow alert means reserves have fallen below required levels.
Gatchalian said the ERC should strictly enforce reliability standards for generation and distribution companies to reduce outages and improve grid stability.
He also called on the regulator to investigate possible anti-competitive practices or collusion among generation companies to determine whether market participants were taking advantage of tight supply conditions.
The ERC earlier ordered the regional application of the Secondary Price Cap in the Visayas and Mindanao, retroactive to the August 2026 billing period, as a measure to temper sharp electricity price increases in the two grids.
