Meralco: Rotating brownouts possible on Thursday afternoon

MANILA, Philippines — Customers of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) could experience rotating brownouts on Thursday, possibly in the afternoon, as the Luzon grid was placed under red and yellow alerts anew.

The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) placed the Luzon grid under red alert from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and from 6 p.m. and yellow alert from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., and 9 p.m. to 11 p.m.

READ: Luzon grid still on red, yellow alerts

Meralco spokesperson Joe Zaldarriaga said the company still has to assess whether the demand for electricity, which peaks during the hottest hours of the day, will exceed the available supply.

“Usually, nagre-ready na kami ng schedule ng mga iro-rotate na areas dahil kung hindi na talaga kakayanin despite our aggressive demand management initiatives then that is the time we need to resort to rotating brownouts,” Zaldarriaga said in an interview over Radyo INQUIRER.

“Wala naman tayong choice eh, since we are very dependent on the supply and the capacity being provided to us,” he added.

He pointed out that Meralco implemented rotating brownouts that lasted for about an hour on Wednesday afternoon.

READ: NGCP: Metro Manila to have rotational brownouts on Wednesday afternoon

Rotating brownouts are most likely to be implemented after lunch time, where the demand for electricity usually peaks due to the hot weather, Zaldarriaga said.

“Critical point is ‘yung peak demand, which is usually after lunch, ‘yung kasagsagan ng init,” the Meralco spokesman said.

‘Kapag tumaas yung heat index, asahan na tataas din yung demand for electricity,” he added.

He said that Meralco will be informing its customers ahead of time if it will implement rotational brownouts via social media and text messaging.

“Lahat ng klase ng platforms, we really try to utilizine in order to inform our customers,” Zaldarriaga said. /jpv