The 90’s fantasy comedy film ‘Groundhog Day’ is about a self-centered weatherman who becomes trapped in a time loop, forcing him to relive his day repeatedly that only ends when he finally changed his ways. The movie became so popular that Groundhog Day became part of the English lexicon to describe a “monotonous, unpleasant, and repetitive situation”.

We cannot help but feel a sense of déjà vu and describe the recent announcement of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) that the country will be on ‘Yellow Alert’ again, as being like Groundhog Day.

What is ‘Yellow Alert’ and how does it affect ordinary consumers? A Yellow Alert is a recurring issue for years now since April 15, 2014. It is raised when a power grid’s power reserve goes below the required level, and usually occurs around the dry season when there is higher demand for electricity. If the power supply falls further below the System Peak Demand, a red alert will be issued. This means that load dropping or rotating power interruptions may be implemented. Or worse, may even cause an increase in the cost of electricity, based on the basic rule of supply and demand.

As consumers, we cannot seem to see the logic why the country is being subjected by the power industry to re-experience the same scenario of inefficiency over and over again, without coming up with a strategy to end the recurrence of a yellow warning?

This annual problem leaves consumers wondering if this could be a marketing strategy to prime the public to accept unusually high prices in the power and energy spot market. For over almost seven years now, during the usual dry months, generation power plants have been simultaneously holding unexpected maintenance, causing them to close or de-rate, bring down the supply, and consequently force market prices to go up.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, head of the Senate Committee on Energy, called on the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and the Department of Energy (DOE) to look into the reported unplanned outages of some power plants in Luzon that recently triggered a spike in consumers’ electricity bills.

As Kuryente.Org, a consumer welfare organization, we support this call for an inquiry on this perennial problem. Energy consumers should not have to bear the inconveniences brought by the unscheduled and simultaneous bogging down of power plants, right when the demand is at its peak, especially with the ongoing pandemic.

Kuryente.org calls on NGCP to provide a full audit on where they are right now in bringing the whole archipelago under one energy grid, and bringing excess energy supply from Mindanao and Negros Island to where it is needed across the country, including status of applications from different power plants that have been waiting for so long to go on-grid.

We believe that it is paramount for the legislative, ERC, DOE and consumers, to form a community that will empower collective consumer action to ensure the environment and our welfare are promoted and protected. Consumer representation is key to ensure transparency and accountability, particularly in businesses that provide critical public services, such as the energy industry.

Similar to the 90’s fantasy movie, the only way to get out of the time loop that we are in, NGCP and the rest of the energy industry need to re-think, re-imagine, and devise new approaches and strategies to prevent an annual announcement of Yellow warning – anything less is a disservice to the country.