Power Crisis Deepens as Brownouts Return and Meralco Bills Climb Amid Extreme Heat
- May 21, 2026
Table of Contents
On May 13, 2026, 1.9 million Meralco customers in Bulacan, Laguna, Cavite, Metro Manila, Rizal, and Quezon were affected by rotating power interruptions after the Luzon grid was placed under a red alert amid critically tight supply conditions. A red alert means electricity supply reserves have dropped to critical levels, leaving the system at risk of shortages.
The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) reported that operating reserves had fallen to around 595 megawatts, leaving the system with a very narrow buffer.
The red alert was triggered after nearly 4,000 MW of generating capacity went offline due to forced outages across multiple power plants, leading to temporary brownouts lasting around two to three hours as the grid operator worked to stabilize supply and prevent a wider system collapse.
Meralco stated that it was instructed by the power transmission operator to carry out manual load dropping (MLD), which resulted in the outages.
(Also read: Power Prices Soar: Rethinking EPIRA, Renewable Charges, and Energy Affordability)
Heat and Rising Electricity Demand
Beyond generation setbacks, demand-side pressure also intensified conditions on the grid. Extreme heat across the country has pushed electricity use higher, with Borongan, Eastern Samar recording a heat index of 48°C on May 11, the highest so far this hot and dry season.
The heat index reflects how hot conditions feel when humidity is factored in, often driving greater cooling demand even when air temperatures alone do not appear extreme.
On May 15, Meralco announced the possibility of another round of power interruptions in parts of CALABARZON, citing tightening supply conditions and low reserve levels from power plants. Following the declaration of a red alert, affected areas were advised to expect possible outages between 2:01 PM and 11:00 PM.
Consumers aired their grievances on social media, voicing frustration over recurring power interruptions and rising electricity costs.
“Puro kayo brownout ang alam. Ayaw niyo babaan ang singil sa mga tao! Kapag hindi nakabayad, pinuputulan niyo agad. Puro kayo pampalakas ng kuryente,” wrote Mica Joy Pangilinan Yolangco (“All you talk about are brownouts. You don’t want to lower electricity charges for people! When bills aren’t paid, you cut off power immediately. It’s all just electricity price hikes”).
Another consumer, Jessica Fabros, wrote, “Taas singil, blackout naman! Lupit mo, Meralco, dami mong charge!” (“High bills, yet blackouts! You’re harsh, Meralco, so many charges!”)
While Meralco has been widely and unfairly blamed for the recent outage, the Department of Energy (DOE) has pointed to a different root cause—specifically calling on NGCP to fully disclose the circumstances behind the back-to-back tripping of 500 kV transmission lines at the Ilijan power complex in Batangas. The incident disrupted major generation supply to the Luzon grid and triggered emergency alerts across multiple island grids.
Despite this clarification on the source of the outage, public scrutiny over electricity bills remains elevated, with consumers continuing to question not only system reliability but also the overall cost of power.
Bill Shock and Regulatory Explanations
Amid growing public frustration over rising electricity bills, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) defended the additional charges reflected in Meralco’s latest rates.
In a statement, the regulator acknowledged consumer concerns over what it described as “bill shock,” but stressed that the adjustments are implemented in line with existing laws, policies, and approved regulatory mechanisms governing electricity pricing.
Moreover, several components of electricity bills, such as generation and transmission charges, are treated as pass-through costs. These are collected by Meralco and remitted to power suppliers, the grid operator, and government agencies, and do not form part of the company’s revenues or profits.
The itemized charges include a lifeline subsidy rate, as provided under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) of 2001. This charge helps fund support for programs such as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) and subsidizes electricity costs for low-income consumers. Eligible households receive a 100% discount on the first 50 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of monthly consumption.
The senior citizen subsidy, under the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010, grants eligible senior citizens a 5% discount on electricity consumption of up to 100 kWh per month.
Meanwhile, a “universal charge,” also mandated under EPIRA, is imposed to support key national energy needs. It helps finance missionary electrification in off-grid communities, fund watershed rehabilitation efforts, and cover the stranded debts and obligations of the National Power Corporation (NPC).
Many of these charges have long been part of electricity bills, with consumers paying them for nearly two decades. The lifeline subsidy rate has been in place since 2001, while the senior citizen subsidy has been implemented since 2010.
Compounding the issue, Congress has proposed expanding senior citizen discounts on electricity and water services. In response, the Philippine Rural Electric Cooperatives Association (Philreca) noted proposals to raise the current rate to as much as 15% and increase the monthly consumption threshold to 200 kWh, warning of the “burden of providing social protection [on] non-senior consumers.”
(Also read: Brownouts and Broken Economies: The Crisis Facing Philippine Island Tourism)
Questioning Electricity Billing
Other components of electricity bills are the Feed-in Tariff Allowance (FIT-All) and the Green Energy Auction Allowance (GEA-All), both of which are mandatory and applied to all consumers regardless of their actual power source.
The GEA-All charge currently stands at ₱0.0371/kWh and helps finance renewable energy projects awarded through government-run auctions, while FIT-All covers earlier feed-in tariff agreements that lock in long-term payments to renewable energy developers. By early 2026, these two charges combined amounted to roughly ₱0.2382/kWh.
Recently, the ERC announced that the GEA-All will be temporarily suspended for the May and June 2026 billing cycles, in a move intended to ease pressure on consumers amid rising inflation and continued global economic uncertainty.
However, Manila Bulletin’s Myrna Velasco pointed out that the GEA-All charge lacks an explicit legal basis within the Renewable Energy Law itself. Instead, it originates from a DOE circular, an administrative issuance based on regulatory interpretation rather than a clear legislative mandate.
“For aggrieved consumers, it may be time to bring this charge before the courts,” she stressed. “What is being normalized in electricity bills increasingly resembles questionable regulatory overreach rather than carefully structured policy.”
Velasco also highlighted the limited transparency in how consumer-funded subsidies are being handled. Although FIT-All and GEA-All charges have already accumulated billions of pesos from electricity users, there has been little disclosure on how much of these funds are actually disbursed to renewable energy developers. The issue is further heightened as the DOE expands its renewable energy auction program, including costly technologies such as offshore wind.
“Since FIT-All and GEA-All rates were set when technology costs were higher, some entrants may be capturing returns disproportionate to their original risk,” she wrote. “Transparency is a safeguard for public trust; without it, the energy transition risks losing its social license.”
Meanwhile, Manila Times columnist Ben Kritz argued that many electricity-related subsidies should be shifted to government funding rather than recovered from consumers. This would include lifeline subsidies, support for senior citizens, missionary electrification, and payments for legacy debts of the pre-EPIRA NPC. He added that if renewable energy development is to be subsidized, it should likewise be shouldered by the government.
As for system loss, which refers to electricity lost during transmission and distribution as well as non-technical losses in the grid, Kritz maintained that it should not be paid by consumers.
“Some system loss is unavoidable due to physics, which may not be the fault of the distributor, but it is nonetheless electricity that we customers do not receive, and should not have to pay for,” he wrote. “Of the remaining VAT, it should be limited to the generation charge, as that is the actual product being received by consumers.”
Urgent policy response needed
This May, Sen. Risa Hontiveros filed Senate Bill No. 2076, or the “VAT Exemption on Systems Loss Act for Residential Household Consumers,” which seeks to amend the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997 by removing value-added tax on system loss charges currently passed on to households by electric utilities and cooperatives.
“VAT is a consumption tax on goods and services. System loss charges, which represent losses in the distribution and delivery of electricity, are neither goods nor services purchased by power consumers,” she said. “Hindi dapat pinapatawan ng VAT diyan ang mga pamilyang nagbabayad ng kuryente” (“Families paying for electricity should not be charged VAT on that”).
Meanwhile, Kritz argued that the root of inefficiencies in the power sector lies in a fragmented and confusing regulatory structure. He explained that electricity generation in the Philippines is largely deregulated, meaning companies can set prices with minimal government control, except in limited cases such as fuel cost adjustments or during market interventions like the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market’s (WESM) price caps under emergency conditions.
In contrast, transmission and distribution are tightly regulated but under different systems, with the government capping revenues for grid operators like the NGCP and setting allowable rates for distribution utilities such as Meralco. This mismatch, where generation is mostly free from regulation while the rest of the system is constrained, creates imbalance and limits the efficient expansion of both the grid and distribution networks.
All of these point to a deeper, more urgent reality: the current electricity billing structure needs a comprehensive review, and it cannot be delayed. What is being presented as a system of layered charges and long-standing policies is, for many consumers, an increasingly heavy and difficult burden to carry.
For many Filipinos already stretched by inflation and daily expenses, waiting for gradual adjustments is no longer enough. A clearer, fairer, and more accountable system must be pursued now, before the strain on consumers deepens further.
Sources:
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2219860/erc-meralco-bill-shock-just-follows-the-law
https://www.meralco.com.ph/residential/billing-payment/understanding-your-bill/breakdown-charges
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1274664
https://mb.com.ph/2026/04/27/no-solid-legal-basis-for-gea-all-charge-in-electric-bills
