House energy panel to probe power supply amid Luzon brownouts

The House energy committee will conduct a motu proprio investigation into the current power supply and demand situation following the recent rotational brownouts in Luzon.

The inquiry, which aims to determine the cause of these brownouts, will begin on Friday, June 4, according to panel chairperson and Pampanga Representative Juan Miguel Arroyo.

Arroyo said this should be addressed as the country is now in the process of its vaccination rollout against COVID-19.

“We cannot afford to have these rotational brownouts at this point in time when we are expecting the anti-COVID vaccine rollout to go on full blast in the coming days,” Arroyo said.

“We all know that the vaccines need to be stored in cold storages otherwise they’ll just go to waste and that will be a major setback for us in our fight against this dreaded virus,” he added. 

Further, Arroyo said energy supply is vital as power is very much needed in the online classes of students.

“Without power, students will not have access to the internet. they won't even be able to power up their computers or other learning gadgets,” Arroyo said.

The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) had placed the Luzon grid under Red and Yellow alerts on May 31, June 1 and 2 as demand spiked but power supply was deficient due to outages of several plants.

Earlier on Thursday, the Department of Energy said the Luzon power grid is now under normal system condition and no power interruptions are to be expected.

Meanwhile, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian has filed a resolution seeking an inquiry on the rotational brownouts in Luzon.

“This is a critical situation and I would like to request the Department of Energy to get all hands on deck especially in the next coming days because from the forecast that I am seeing, there will be problem of load dropping in the next eight days,” said Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate energy committee. — Anna Felicia Bajo/RSJ, GMA News