Parts of Luzon yesterday suffered up to three-hour power outages, even as provinces in Northern Luzon were advised to brace for a 12-hour blackout today.

The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) said yesterday’s power outages were due to severe power deficiency in the grid.

NGCP raised a red alert status in the Luzon grid from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and a yellow alert status from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m.

A red alert means there is severe power deficiency, while a yellow alert means that contingency reserves are below the minimum level set by the regulator but does not necessarily lead to power outages.

“Luzon grid is on red alert due to zero operating reserves and yellow alert due to lower level operating reserves brought about by insufficient power supply from generating plants,” the grid operator said.

Based on NGCP’s projections, available capacity was only at 9,030 megawatts while peak demand was expected to reach 8,564 MW.

In a text message, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said the insufficient power supply was caused by the sudden outage of four power plants and six power plants under scheduled maintenance.

Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) said the 300-MW Calaca plant trippped at 2:18 a.m. yesterday, while the government-owned Malaya 1 plant was unable to synchronize due to fuel oil heater tube leak.

“Derated plants include Malaya 2 (280 MW), Calaca 1 (156 MW) while QPPL also experienced a reduction of load,” the firm added.

Meralco implemented manual load dropping, or rotating blackouts, for two to three hours within its franchise area starting 10 a.m. until 6 p.m., according to senior vice president and head of utility economics Larry Fernandez.

In view of the recurring yellow and red alert status in the past few days, Cusi said he would meet with Meralco and NGCP “to plan the course of action.”

“Since last week, I have asked Energy Regulation Commission to investigate why we have been on yellow/red alert and for DOW power bureau to conduct technical audit of plants, prioritizing those who had forced outage,” he added.

The energy secretary also said the DOE is looking at possible violations by power utilities that caused “these debilitating power interruptions” which “are in total violation of the EPIRA (Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001).”

12-hour blackout to hit Cagayan, Kalinga, Isabela

Meanwhile, the entire province of Cagayan, Kalinga-Apayao and parts of Isabela will experience a 12-hour blackout today.

NGCP North Luzon spokesperson Lilibeth Gaydowen said the power interruption would be from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

It would affect the distribution utilities of the entire franchise areas of the Cagayan Electric Cooperative I and II, the Kalinga Electric Cooperative and parts of Iselco II under Cabagan substation.

Gaydowen said the blackout would pave the way for the commissioning and energization of additional high voltage circuit breakers at the Tuguegarao substation.

The work is simultaneous with preventive and corrective maintenance of substation and transmission lines utilized by the electric cooperatives.

Consumer group Citizen Watch said the series of power outages are a “suspicious” trend of simultaneous outages.

Citizen Watch secretary general Wilford Wong noted that this is similar to the suspicious shutdowns in November 2013 that drastically affected supply and consequently drove up rates to the disadvantage of consumers who will bear the brunt of the increase.

“We reiterate our call for a strict audit of the operational fitness of all existing power plants, which can serve as an accurate base of what is really the actual and dependable capacity in the grid,” Wong said in a statement. – With Raymund Catindig, Victor Martin