Cebu City energy crisis declaration withheld for now, says Archival

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City will not immediately declare an energy crisis despite recurring yellow and red alerts in the Visayas grid.

Mayor Nestor Archival said he first wants to see whether relief measures can stabilize power reserves in the coming days.

Archival made the statement on Monday, June 22, as Cebu and the rest of the Visayas continued to grapple with a fragile power supply situation that has triggered weeks of grid alerts and renewed calls for emergency action.

“Dili pa karon [magdeklara og energy crisis] kay kuyawan ko within the next two or three days,” Archival said when asked if the city government planned to declare an energy crisis.

READ: CERA: Declare energy emergency in Cebu due to low power supply

(I will not yet [declare an energy crisis] because I want to closely watch what happens within the next two or three days.)

The mayor said Cebu City would first assess whether ongoing efforts to augment power supply could ease pressure on the grid before resorting to extraordinary measures.

Waiting for supply relief

Archival noted that shrinking reserve margins continue to worry local officials, particularly as some power plants remain offline.

“Ang alert man gud pasabot nga ang atong reserve, nga dapat naa unta, nagkaanam og kagamay. At the same time, naa tay planta nga wala nag-operate sa Toledo,” he said.

(The alert means our reserve supply, which should be available, continues to shrink. At the same time, we have a power plant in Toledo that is not operating.)

READ: Cebu’s growing energy gap becomes investor risk factor

He said authorities are monitoring proposals that could bring additional electricity into the Visayas grid.

“Atong gitan-aw unsaon kay naa may mga plano nga naay grid nga mohatag gikan sa Negros ug Mindanao,” Archival said.

(We are studying our options because there are plans to bring additional power from Negros and Mindanao.)

According to the mayor, the success or failure of those interventions will likely determine whether Cebu City eventually needs to invoke emergency powers.

“If dili nato ma-receive, naa tay declaration for that particular situation aron makahatag og direction,” he added.

(If we do not receive that additional supply, we may issue a declaration for that particular situation to provide direction.)

What a declaration could do

Archival said a declaration could provide the city government with a legal and policy basis for implementing measures to conserve electricity and prioritize critical facilities.

The mayor said hospitals, business process outsourcing firms, and other essential institutions would remain among the city’s priorities should power shortages worsen.

“Aron ma-reserve nato ang importante nga mga ospital ug mga call center,” he said. (So we can reserve available power for important facilities such as hospitals and call centers.)

While many large establishments operate backup generators, Archival warned that prolonged outages could create new problems.

“Naa man silay generator pero ang problema kung taas ang brownout, mahutdan og fuel,” he said.

(They may have generators, but the problem is that prolonged brownouts could eventually exhaust their fuel supply.)

Grid remains under pressure

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) again placed the Visayas grid under Yellow Alert on Monday afternoon.

The alert marked the seventh straight week of thin operating reserves across the region.

NGCP said available capacity reached only 2,593 megawatts against a projected peak demand of 2,427 MW, leaving little room to absorb unexpected plant outages or spikes in electricity consumption.

The grid operator attributed the latest alert to the continued unavailability of several major generating units, including facilities operated by Therma Visayas Inc. and the Cebu-based Power Development Corp.

According to NGCP, 25 power plants across the Visayas either remain offline or continue operating below normal capacity, removing nearly 944 megawatts from the regional power supply.

DOE open to emergency declaration

The mayor’s position contrasts with growing calls from energy advocates and some stakeholders for authorities to declare an energy emergency in Cebu.

Earlier on Monday, Energy Secretary Sharon Garin said the Department of Energy would support local government units that decide to invoke emergency powers in response to the worsening supply situation.

“If sa palagay ng local government na declare ng energy emergency or emergency powers nila, then we can support that,” Garin said.

(If the local government believes it should declare an energy emergency or invoke emergency powers, then we can support that.)

Garin acknowledged that recurring grid alerts and rotating brownouts have already affected households, businesses, and public services across the Visayas.

Still, Archival said Cebu City would wait for developments over the next few days before deciding whether conditions warrant a formal declaration.

“With the next two or three days, makabalo ta. Hopefully, maka-come up ta og something from it,” he said.

(Within the next two or three days, we will know more. Hopefully, we can come up with a solution.)/ with reports from Morexette Marie Erram

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