Last Monday, as the Tribune was being printed, the First Catanduanes Electric Cooperative, Inc. (FICELCO) issued the first of probably many similar announcements: the Load Shedding Schedule.
Citing insufficient power supply due to the fact that no fuel was delivered to the SUWECO Marinawa Diesel Power Plant’s to run eight (8) of the 14 diesel gensets, the cooperative was forced to cut the supply of electricity to a large part of Virac, San Andres, and Pandan as well as the entire towns of Viga, Bagamanoc and Panganiban.
Fortunately, a tanker truck delivered diesel sometime later that afternoon and power was restored to the affected areas.
As to whether future deliveries in the following days are forthcoming, it would all depend on SUWECO, which reportedly issued a purchase order to its suppliers, and the National Power Corporation (NPC), with its promised but long delayed subsidy payments to SUWECO.
The question now is what happens next.
In what turns out to be a prescient move, the Department of Energy laid out a policy exactly for this situation two months ago.
Last Feb. 16, 2026, the Department of Energy issued Department Circular No. DC2027-02-0006 providing a policy on the accountability of entities engaged in power generation to ensure sufficient, reliable, affordable, and secure supply of energy in the country.
As far as off-grid areas like Catanduanes is concerned, all new power providers like SUWECO or distribution utilities such as FICELCO are mandated “to operate their facilities in a way that will not affect the availability of supply and reserves, and the reliability of the transmission and distribution network in Off-Grid Areas.”
Aside from ensuring that they operate in close coordination with NPC and/or the concerned DU, the generation companies (GenCos) “shall always fulfill the full contracted supply and ensure provisions for reserve and support services in any contingent event in such area.”
The circular states that in its monitoring of GenCos in off-grid areas, the DOE may, among others, conduct visitation and inspection to confirm any allegation that “the sufficiency of supply and reliability of the distribution system are in peril due to the behavior of the Gencos NPP,” as determined by the DOE with the National Electrification Administration (NEA), NPC and TransCo.
Likewise, Section 18 provides that among the circumstances that will automatically trigger an Incidental/Special Assessment of Generation Facilities in Off-Grid Areas is the failure of generation facilities to provide the contracted capacity based on its Power Supply Agreement.
For FICELCO and other DUs with a single GenCo, they are directed to prepare a contingency plan, as part of their Power Supply Procurement Plan (PPSP), to ensure reliable and sufficient supply of electricity during force majeure or failure of the GenCo to supply the contracted capacity.
On the other hand, NPC is likewise mandated to institutionalize a contingency plan, as part of its Missionary Electrification Plan, to ensure sufficient, reliable, and secure supply of electricity in off-grid areas, in cases of force majeure, or failure of GenCos to provide the contracted capacity.
Part of the plan would be its acting as a Supplier of Last Resort in the event of the GenCo’s failure and the DU cannot take over due to technical, financial, or institutional limitations.
As the incident regarding the near shutdown of SUWECO operations last week showed, it would be wise for the Sangguniang Panlalawigan to confirm if FICELCO and NPC have prepared their respective contingency plans for such force majeure cases or failure of SUWECO to provide the contracted capacity.
Subsequently, it would be good for consumers to know if there is a timeline or protocol to be followed in case the contingency plan needs to be implemented.
Considering the legal and financial mess that SUWECO and the other companies owned by Zaldy Co are in right now and assuming that FICELCO is incapable of taking over SUWECO operations, NPC should better be ready and willing to jump in as the Supplier of Last Resort.