Average systemwide electricity charges in the Philippines fell 18.6 percent in January 2026 to P3.56 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) as softer demand offset supply constraints in Luzon, the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) said Wednesday.
The decline from December’s P4.38 per kWh represents a P0.81 reduction, providing relief to consumers and cooperatives. While systemwide prices trended downward, the Luzon grid saw a 9-percent increase to P3.25 per kWh on tighter supply margin caused by several plant outages.
IEMOP trading operations vice president Isidro Cacho Jr. said the drop is welcome news for consumers and electric cooperatives, especially in the Visayas and Mindanao, where rates declined by 41 percent and 45 percent, respectively.
Data from IEMOP, which operates the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), showed that systemwide demand declined 7.1 percent to 12,492 megawatts from 13,440 MW between Dec. 26, 2025 and Jan. 25, 2026. Power supply fell 5.3 percent to 19,152 MW from 20,223 MW during the same period.
IEMOP reported forced outages from coal and natural gas units in Luzon reached 4,811 MW, while planned outages across various technologies totaled 2,754.1 MW.
“This tighter supply condition resulted in oil-based and other higher-marginal-cost plants being dispatched more frequently,” IEMOP corporate planning and communications manager Arjon Valencia said.
The Visayas grid saw rates drop to P4.24 per kWh from P7.22 per kWh on the back of lower demand and supply.
Visayas demand fell by 117 MW to 1,861 MW, while supply reached 2,361 MW, a decline of 163 MW from the previous month. Mindanao rates dropped to P4.27 per kWh from P7.82 per kWh as available power supply increased 8.4 percent to 3,563 MW while demand fell 3.8 percent to 2,056 MW.
Cacho said while demand is expected to rise during the dry months, he anticipates improved supply after the Energy Regulatory Commission extended the purchased power agreement between First Gas Power Corp. and Manila Electric Co. through June.
He said the extension removes uncertainty regarding the dispatch of gas plants during the dry season, adding that new power plants expected to come on stream should further improve the Luzon supply.
“Hopefully, it’s not like what we experienced in 2024 when we had extreme heat that really resulted in our demand kicking in. So much so that we had a lot of yellow alerts, red alerts,” said Cacho.
While new plants are also expected in the Visayas and Mindanao, Cacho noted that the tripping of units on Jan. 20 resulted in yellow alerts in the Visayas grid, forcing the region to import supply from Luzon through the Leyte-Cebu interconnection.
