Rotational brownouts hit Metro Cebu Friday; check areas, schedules

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Metro Cebu residents face scheduled rotational brownouts on Friday, Aug. 14, as the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) placed the Visayas grid under yellow and red alerts amid a power supply shortfall.

Visayan Electric Co. announced possible rotational brownouts across portions of Cebu City, Mandaue City, Talisay City, Minglanilla, Naga City, San Fernando, Consolacion, and Liloan from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m.

The distribution utility said the schedule could still change depending on NGCP’s latest demand-reduction requirement.

Brownout schedule

As of its 1:57 p.m. update, Visayan Electric added more areas to the schedule, particularly for the 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. periods.

Here is the consolidated latest schedule based on Visayan Electric’s advisories:

1 p.m. to 2 p.m.

  • Cebu City: Banilad, Budlaan, Busay and Talamban; Calamba, Guadalupe, and Labangon
  • Mandaue City: Banilad

2 p.m. to 3 p.m.

  • Cebu City: Camputhaw and Capitol Site; Banilad and Talamban; Basak Pardo, Basak San Nicolas, Bulacao, Cogon Pardo, Inayawan, Kinasang-an, Mambaling, Poblacion Pardo, and San Roque
  • Mandaue City: Banilad and Cabancalan
  • Talisay City: Bulacao and San Roque

3 p.m. to 4 p.m.

  • Cebu City: Basak, Basak Pardo, Basak San Nicolas, Buhisan, Bulacao, Kinasang-an Pardo, Pardo, Poblacion Pardo, Punta Princesa, and Quiot; Apas, Kasambagan, Lahug, and San Antonio; Banilad
  • Mandaue City: Banilad; Cabancalan, Canduman, Casuntingan, Maguikay, Pagsabungan and Tingub; Bakilid

4 p.m. to 5 p.m.

  • Cebu City: Camputhaw and Hipodromo; Basak San Nicolas, Kasambagan, Mabolo, and San Jose
  • Mandaue City: Subangdaku
  • Minglanilla: Lipata, Pakigne, Poblacion, and Tungkil
  • Talisay City: Biasong, Cansojong, Dumlog, Linao, Mohon, Pooc,and San Isidro
  • Liloan: Catarman, Cotcot, Jubay, Poblacion, and Tayud

5 p.m. to 6 p.m.

  • Cebu City: Adlaon, Agsungot, Bacayan, Binaliw, Budlaan, Cambinocot, Guba, Kalubihan, Lanipga, Lusaran, Mabini, Paril, Pit-os, Pulangbato, San Jose and Talamban; Ermita, Lorega, San Roque, Sto. Niño, T. Padilla, Tejero, and Tinago
  • Mandaue City: Cabancalan and Canduman
  • Consolacion: Cabangahan and Panas
  • Naga City: Alpaco, Balirong, Cantao-an, Cogon, Colon, Guindaruhan, Inayagan, Jaguimit, Lanas, Lutac, Mayana, North Poblacion, Pangdan, South Poblacion, Tagjaguimit, Tangke, Tinaan, Tuyan, and Uling
  • Minglanilla: Camp 8, Lataban, Panas, Tunghaan, and Tungkop

6 p.m. to 7 p.m.

  • Cebu City: Apas, Kasambagan and Lahug; Calamba, Kalubihan, Labangon, Punta Princesa, Sambag 1, San Jose and Tisa; Agsungot, Apas, Babag, Binaliw, Bonbon, Buot, Busay, Camputhaw, Guba, Lahug, Malubog, Pulangbato, Pung-ol Sibugay, San Roque, Sirao, Tabunan, Tagba-o and Taptap; Basak San Nicolas, Buhisan, Calamba, Ermita, Labangon, Mambaling, Pahina Central, Pahina San Nicolas, Pamutan, Punta Princesa, San Nicolas Proper, Sawang Calero, Tisa and Toong; Camputhaw, Cebu Business Park, Lahug, and Luz

7 p.m. to 8 p.m.

  • Cebu City: Mambaling and San Roque; Carreta, North Reclamation Area and Tejero
  • Talisay City:San Roque and Tangke
  • San Fernando: Balud, Greenhills, Lantawan, Panadtaran, Sangat, and Tonggo
  • Liloan: Cotcot and Jubay

8 p.m. to 9 p.m.

  • Cebu City: Carreta, Cebu Business Park, Hipodromo, Mabolo, San Antonio, and San Roque
  • Mandaue City: No separate area listed in the latest advisory for this time slot.
  • Consolacion: Cabangahan, Cansaga, Casili, Danglag, Garing, Panoypoy, Poblacion Occidental, Poblacion Oriental, Polog, Pulpogan, Sacsac, Tilhaong, and Tolo-tolo

9 p.m. to 10 p.m.

  • Cebu City: No area listed in the advisory.
  • Mandaue City: No area listed in the advisory.
  • Consolacion: Cansaga, Jugan, Lamac, Pitogo, and Poblacion Oriental
  • Liloan:Yati

Why is Metro Cebu experiencing brownouts?

The rotational interruptions stem from tight power supply across the Visayas grid.

NGCP’s 8 a.m. update showed 2,269 megawatts (MW) of available capacity against peak demand of 2,511 MW.

The grid operator placed the Visayas grid under yellow alert from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and again from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. It placed the grid under red alert from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

NGCP also reported that 10 power plants were on forced outage, while 14 plants operated at reduced capacity. Together, these outages and deratings left 829 MW unavailable to the grid.

The grid operator cited two major factors behind the alerts: the unavailability of Visayas’ large coal plants TVI 1 and TVI 2, and limited power imports from Mindanao.

Mindanao’s available support also declined because GNPK 2 remains under maintenance outage, while GNPK 1 underwent an emergency shutdown following a boiler tube leak.

What do yellow and red alerts mean?

A yellow alert means the operating margin has fallen below the level required to meet the transmission grid’s contingency requirement.

A red alert signals a more critical condition: available power supply cannot meet consumer demand and the transmission grid’s regulating requirement.

READ: Red, yellow alerts raised again over Visayas, Mindanao

The alerts do not automatically mean that all consumers will lose electricity. However, when NGCP requires demand reduction, distribution utilities may implement rotational brownouts in selected areas to reduce consumption and protect grid stability.

Visayan Electric said it continues to coordinate with NGCP and will issue further advisories if the rotational brownout schedule changes.

For consumers, the practical takeaway remains simple: check the latest schedule before relying on a listed interruption time, as areas and schedules may still shift throughout the day.

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