A Philippine climate and energy policy group called on the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to impose stiffer penalties for power plants that exceed allowable outage limits to enforce better operational discipline among electricity generators.
The Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities said in a statement that a yellow alert raised in the Visayas grid on Tuesday highlighted a persistent and alarming issue of supply shortages occurring even during periods of low demand.
The group noted that the grid remains vulnerable despite the current cool season, primarily due to unplanned outages at baseload coal-fired facilities.
System reliability remains fragile under relatively favorable demand conditions, the group said. On Jan. 20, baseload plants including the 150-megawatt Unit 1 of Therma Visayas Inc and the 83-MW Unit 2 of Panay Energy Development Corp experienced unplanned outages.
These incidents coincided with several other plants being offline for scheduled maintenance, which further tightened available capacity.
The group said the 150-MW Unit 3 of Panay Energy Development Corp. has been offline since Dec. 26, 2025, while the 103-MW Unit 2 of KEPCO SPC and the 150-MW Unit 2 of Therma Visayas Inc also remain out of service.
Collectively, these planned and unplanned outages resulted in the loss of 867 megawatts of capacity, representing about 38 percent of the 2,284-MW peak demand.
Energy stakeholders should act with urgency to mitigate these risks, the group said, adding that strict compliance with the grid operating maintenance program is essential to improving plant reliability.
The organization said recurring grid alerts are rooted in an overreliance on coal and urged the Philippines to transition toward a more flexible and distributed energy system.
Diversifying the power mix by increasing indigenous renewable energy resources like solar and wind is necessary to strengthen energy security and reduce exposure to volatile fuel prices, the group said.
A more diversified portfolio would help ensure reliability even when electricity demand is low, it said.
The Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities is a Philippine-based non-governmental organization that focuses on climate and low-carbon solutions to enable resilient development.
 urges the Philippine Energy Regulatory Commission to penalize power plants for excessive outages following supply shortages in the Visayas grid.){kind=link}