Power strain triggers spike in electricity prices in May

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June 11, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — Electricity prices in the country’s spot market rose sharply in May amid high power demand and tighter supply conditions, pushing rates in the Visayas beyond P10 per kilowatt-hour (kWh).

The system-wide Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) rate surged by 38.5 percent to P7.79 per kWh in May from the previous month’s P5.63 per kWh, according to the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines.

IEMOP vice president for trading operations Isidro Cacho Jr. said the extreme summer heat drove up electricity demand, placing additional strain on the system already challenged by multiple power plant outages.

Overall demand went up by 9.4 percent to 15,755 megawatts from 14,404 MW on a monthly basis, outpacing the 2.7-percent rise in supply to 21,374 MW from 20,819 MW.

“This was very evident in the Visayas, where red and yellow alerts were issued, along with instances of manual load dropping. This was reflected in market prices,” Cacho told a press briefing yesterday.

Among the regions, Visayas posted the steepest increase in WESM prices, which ballooned by 81.4 percent to P10.20 per kWh from P5.63 per kWh.

Luzon likewise saw a significant rise, with spot prices climbing by 24.8 percent to P7.02 per kWh, while Mindanao recorded a sharper increase of 64.8 percent to P9.28 per kWh.

These latest adjustments are expected to exert upward pressure on electricity bills this month.

The price spikes come amid a series of yellow and red alerts that triggered rotational brownouts in Luzon and the Visayas last month, driven by high system demand and the shutdown of several power plants.

Power supply constraints continue to raise concerns, particularly in the Visayas, where grid alerts have persisted into this month. Most recently, the region was placed under a red alert yesterday.

A yellow alert is issued when power reserves fall to low levels. If conditions worsen, it escalates to a red alert, which indicates that supply is no longer sufficient to meet consumer demand.

Given the persistent grid alerts, Cacho expects WESM prices to increase further in the coming weeks as power supply conditions remain tight.

“Hopefully, this will be addressed in the coming months with additional capacities coming online and the plant resuming operations,” he said, adding that prices are likely to return to normal levels once the issues are resolved.