NGCP urges its customers to volunteer for ILP

PAGADIAN CITY, Zamboanga del Sur (Oct. 8, 2016) - To help ease load requirements of the grid during high demand times, NGCP encourages its directly connected customers to participate in its Interruptible Load Program (ILP).

Elizabeth Ladaga, Regional Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Officer, in the press release dated Oct. 7, 2016 disclosed that the ILP is a demand side management scheme set by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to help ease the impact of tight supply during yellow and red alert periods.

Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi directed NGCP to pursue its ILP after a meeting to address the recent spate of power deficiencies. The ILP rules of the ERC apply “to all DUs and their respective participating captive customer within their franchise area, to all DUs that entered into a tripartite ILP agreement with a retail electricity supplier (RES) and its participating contestable customers, and the NGCP that entered into an ILP agreement with a participating directly-connected customer.”

Under this program, NGCP’s Directly Connected Customers (DCC) may voluntarily enter into an agreement, where they may be requested to run back-up generators to partially decrease or completely cease drawing power from the grid in times of an electricity supply shortage. This will provide all grid-connected consumers with a more stable supply of electricity. Conversely, participating DCCs will be compensated for the internally generated power by NGCP through a formula provided by ERC.

When consumers such as large malls, industrial plants, and economic zones use non-grid sources of electricity, NGCP is able to minimize or prevent manual power curtailment or load dropping when there is not enough power in the system, specifically, when the system net operating reserve is less than 350 megawatts. Imminent power shortages will temporarily be addressed. “Theoretically, any consumer connected to the grid who also has a back-up generation unit is a potential ILP supplier,” NGCP stated.

The program was initially developed in 2010 by the ERC for implementation by Distribution Utilities (DUs) in Visayas and Mindanao to address the imminent power shortage in said regions. In 2014, the ERC also allowed Meralco to implement the same program within its franchise area. The program was further extended to other DUs, ecozones, and NGCP’s directly connected customers in 2015.

The recent series of unplanned shutdowns this year of several power plants or generators, which were the direct cause of the power deficiency, gave reason to put the ILP in play. “We want to make sure that power supply remains stable and reliable, most especially when supply is critical. Right now, the best and quickest way to do this is to work hand-in-hand with our partners, and fully implement the ILP,” NGCP said.

NGCP is a privately owned corporation in charge of operating, maintaining, and developing the country’s power grid. It transmits high-voltage electricity through “power superhighways” that include the interconnected system of transmission lines, towers, substations, and related assets. The consortium, which holds the 25-year concession contract to operate the country's power transmission network, is comprised of Monte Oro Grid Resources Corp. led by Henry Sy, Jr.,Calaca High Power Corporation led by Robert Coyiuto, Jr., and the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) as technical partner.

(By Jong Cadion with PR)