ERC investigating 29 power producers for breaching outage threshold

By Alena Mae S. Flores – June 10, 2024, 9:20 pm
from manilastandard.net

ERC Chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta

The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) said Monday it is investigating 29 power generating companies for possible breach of outage allowance in April and May.

“We are still completing because the team had to include more gencos (generation companies), but the target is to present to the commission this month,” ERC chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta said.

“Upon further evaluation, the team decided to expand the investigation to get a more accurate picture,” Dimalanta said.

The ERC’s initial investigation showed that five power generating companies already breached the outage allowance. The regulator conducted the investigation in the wake of the recent red and yellow alerts across all grids in April and May.

ERC director for market operations service Sharon Montaner earlier said a majority of the generating units blamed the outage in Luzon to constraints on resources such as water for hydro plants and steam for geothermal plants.

The ERC imposed P60 million in penalties on 14 generation companies in 2023 for breaching the allowable number of outage days.

Under ERC Resolution No. 10, series of 2020, the commission conducts an investigation to determine if the generator outages were justified or could be excused under the regulation.