The Cebu Electricity Rights Advocates (CERA) has called for the declaration of a State of Energy Emergency in Cebu, arguing that the province's unique economic and industrial demands require a localized response beyond existing national energy policies.
"Cebu is at breaking point," CERA lead convenor Nathaniel Chua said in a statement, warning that the growing vulnerability to power interruptions threatens not only businesses but also essential public services.
Rotational brownout
The Visayas grid has been placed under red and yellow alerts since May 12 following the simultaneous outages of several major generating units.
On June 20, Visayan Electric Co. warned of possible rotational brownouts in parts of Cebu City, Mandaue City, and the town of Consolacion after power reserves were estimated at only 101 megawatts.
According to National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), the available capacity of 2,483 megawatts (MW) could barely meet the power demand of 2,382 MW.
The thin reserve was attributed to the unavailability of about 1,052 MW due to the forced outages of several power plants, including two 169-MW units of Therma Visayas Inc., the 150-MW Unit 3 of Panay Energy Development Corp. (PEDC), and a unit of KEPCO-SPC Power Corp. (KSPC).
Energy analysts have long noted Cebu's critical role in the Visayas economy, with the province serving as a major hub for manufacturing, business process outsourcing (BPO), tourism, logistics, and commerce.
Any prolonged power disruption could have ripple effects across the regional economy and essential public services.
Epira amendment
CERA called for amendments to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) of 2001, arguing that persistent power shortages and recurring grid alerts stem from deeper structural weaknesses in the energy sector that the law has failed to address.
These amendments include requiring companies to commit to a time-bound, mandatory modernization schedule for aging power plants to prevent the current trend of frequent, unplanned forced outages.
The group also wants the government to move away from a purely market-driven approach to electricity generation and recognize affordable and reliable power as a fundamental public service.
Central to CERA's proposal is the establishment of a Cebu Energy Task Force (CETF), a high-level coordinating body designed to bridge the gap between national energy policy and local infrastructure realities.
The task force would also streamline the permitting process for new high-efficiency, island-based baseload power plants.
By acting as the primary liaison among the Department of Energy (DOE), National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), local distribution utilities, and provincial stakeholders, the CETF would focus on proactive management rather than reactive damage control.
The group said new high-efficiency, island-based baseload power plants would strengthen Cebu's energy security while reducing its dependence on vulnerable transmission links.
Functions
Among its proposed functions are:
Beyond emergency measures, CERA is advocating for the development of a Cebu-Specific Energy Master Plan aimed at strengthening the province's long-term energy resilience.
The proposed master plan would encourage investment in distributed energy resources and localized generation projects to reduce dependence on a single transmission backbone, a vulnerability that has repeatedly exposed Cebu to widespread outages during major grid disturbances. —Ed: Corrie S. Narisma
Contributor
