AMID the scorching hot weather, consumers are asked to save electricity as demand has been exceeding the available generating capacity of the Luzon grid.
The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) has been encouraging consumers to exercise cautiousness in using electricity amid the power situation in Luzon.
In the past days, Luzon grid has been going back and forth between yellow and red alert due to the continuous rise in electric demand.
Being under red alert means that there is insufficient power supply in the grid, while yellow alert means there is low power reserve due to high electricity demand.
With this, NGCP has been implementing manual load dropping (MLD) or rotational power interruptions in some areas of the country, including parts of Pampanga.
On Wednesday, June 2, it projected the power situation with available generating capacity of 11,260 megawatts for Luzon.
The number was 716 megawatts short from the foreseen 11,976 megawatts system peak demand for the said day.
This forced the power corporation to put Luzon grid under red alert from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. and yellow alert status for the rest of the day.
NGCP had scheduled MLD on parts of Pampanga, particularly consumers of Pampanga I Electric Cooperative and Pampanga II Electric Cooperative from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Continuous rotating power interruption is being conducted to balance out the supply of electricity until reserves are enough to maintain the integrity of power supply.