April 23, 2025 – Consumer advocacy group Partners for Affordable and Reliable Energy (PARE) has expressed concerns over the possibility of a red or yellow alert in the coming months as it poses a threat to the upcoming 2025 Midterm elections.
Nic Satur, Jr., PARE chief advocate officer, said while they are aware of the more than 10,000 megawatt (MW) available capacity to supply the grid in the coming months, the current power situation in the Philippines does not give them the confidence that there will be no power outages or power alerts as the election draws closer.
“Power regulators have given us the impression that there is still the possibility of power alerts despite the power grid having 10,260-megawatts of available capacity to supply the demands of consumers. As what National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) Spokesperson Atty. Cynthia Alabanza said earlier, there is still a need to prepare for the worst case scenario,” Satur said.
He said the possibility of a red or yellow alert on the grid, which can cause power outages, puts the upcoming elections at risk.
“With midterm elections being done electronically and digitally, there should be stable and reliable power service from the start of the election day until all data has been transmitted. A sudden power outage creates opportunities for undesirable individuals to possibly cheat the elections,” Satur said.
Thus, Satur said there is a need for our power regulators – Depart of Energy, Energy Regulatory Commission, National Electrification Administration, and NGCP – power generators, and electric power distributors to ensure that there is stable electricity on election day.
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Ross is known as the Pambansang Blogger ng Pilipinas - An Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Professional by profession and a Social Media Evangelist by heart.
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