A performance assessment of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines, which has not been reviewed for its performance since it was privatized in 2009, has been demanded after blackouts in several parts of Luzon were pinned on damaged transmission lines.
Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, House ways and means committee chairperson, called for the Energy Regulatory Commission to audit NGCP performance by August 2023, when billions of pesos worth of new power grid lines are set to be completed.
“The NGCP is supposed to complete the Bataan-Hermosa line, the Cebu-Negros-Panay connection, and the Mindanao-Visayas interconnection by August 2023. I strongly urge an audit by the ERC then,” Salceda said.
“If not, we in Congress will do it,” he added.
The NGCP is a private corporation which has sole control over the country’s nationwide transmission grids since 2009. It carries a 25-year concession and a 50-year congressional franchise to manage and expand the country’s power transmission grid.
Salceda said the NGCP complacency could stem from its monopoly, as it failed to act on the line tripping that led to forced outages in two power plants on May 8. “This was a mistake that could have been avoided if the NGCP were not so complacent about its monopoly,” he added.
Besides pressing the need to improve the country’s transmission grids before more transmission projects are switched on, an audit carried out by the ERC is also mandated by a “very explicit provision in the NGCP franchise that they can use to act on audit findings,” Salceda said.
Aside from the blackouts in Luzon, Panay and Negros also experienced prolonged power outages recently, which have also been blamed to inadequacies in the transmission system.
The nation’s transmission system, which is solely controlled by the NGCP, puts the entire country at the mercy of one private entity, which should already be a source of worry. To make matters worse, there is also the lack of an audit ever since it was privatized. Such a situation would make anyone question if our government is prioritizing the interests of its people over a private corporation.
Why is it only now, after we have experienced catastrophic power failures that have been attributed to the transmission system, that an audit has become part of the conversation?*
