Average systemwide electricity charges at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market soared to P15.60 per kilowatt-hour last week, following a series of red and yellow alerts in the Luzon and Visayas power grids.
Multiple power plant shutdowns and high demand led by soaring temperatures caused the red and yellow alerts, which affected millions of consumers. Transmission line trippings that isolated several generating units further aggravated the situation.
Data from the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines showed that the highest load-weighted average price, or LWAP, occurred on May 15.
LWAP represents the average price of electricity paid by consumers. On that day, the Visayas grid’s LWAP soared to P26.14 per kWh, while Luzon reached P13.92 per kWh and Mindanao hit P11.81 per kWh.
A red alert indicates that electricity supply cannot meet consumer demand and regulating requirements. A yellow alert means that operating margins are insufficient for contingency.
When the Luzon power supply situation normalized Monday, the systemwide LWAP dropped to P8.29 per kWh, pulled down by Luzon’s drop to P4.82 per kWh. However, prices in the Visayas remained high at P19.68 per kWh Monday and P20.21 per kWh Tuesday as the regional grid continued to be under a yellow alert.
The level of exposure of the distribution utility or the electric cooperative to the spot market will determine the impact of the higher WESM prices on consumers.
The Visayas grid remained under a yellow alert for several hours Wednesday due to thin reserves, with available capacity placed at 2,692 megawatts compared to a peak demand of 2,503 MW.
Long-term outages have strained the Visayas grid. Nine power plants have been on forced outage since earlier this month, 1 plant since March, 3 plants since 2025, 2 since 2024, 2 since 2023 and 1 since 2021. About 15 plants are running on derated capacities, leaving a total of 847 MW unavailable to the grid.
Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities energy and climate think tank officials said the repeated supply issues highlight the risks of relying heavily on centralized power generation and congested transmission systems, where outages at a few large facilities can ripple across entire regions.
The ICSC said that, in the near term, both consumers and government institutions should accelerate the adoption of rooftop solar and net-metering systems to strengthen local energy resilience and reduce dependence on single-point centralized power infrastructure.
While they are not a direct substitute for large baseload plants, the ICSC said wider adoption of rooftop solar can help reduce peak daytime demand, improve local resilience and lessen pressure on the grid during supply shortfalls.
Even small-scale distributed energy systems can help ease pressure on the grid during peak demand while providing backup electricity during supply disruptions, particularly when paired with battery storage systems, the group said.
