THE Department of Energy (DOE) on Wednesday announced a price freeze on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and kerosene in Cebu following the earthquake on Tuesday night.
The price freeze will be implemented for 60 days to ensure price stability. This move, added the DOE, is meant to protect households from undue economic burden and guarantee the continued availability of essential fuel products that are critical in cooking, lighting, and other immediate recovery needs.
‘Stability of fuel prices and availability of supply are vital in times of disaster. The Department is working closely with all partners to make sure that families and frontliners have access to the essential energy resources they need during relief and recovery operations,’ Energy Secretary Sharon Garin said.
The DOE, in coordination with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and local governments, will be conducting inspections to prevent overpricing and profiteering during this critical period. Violators face heavy penalties under the law.
The DOE also assures that there is sufficient supply of petroleum products in the province and that distribution channels are being closely coordinated with oil companies and local authorities to ensure uninterrupted access to consumers, particularly in evacuation centers and hardest-hit communities.
Price freeze on basic goods
THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has implemented a 60-day price freeze on basic necessities in the entire province of Cebu following the magnitude 6.9 earthquake that struck the province on September 30.
‘We recognize the heavy toll this disaster has brought to families. Beyond enforcing the price freeze, our priority is to ensure that prices and supplies are affordable and stable,’ Trade and Industry Secretary Cristina A. Roque said in a statement on Wednesday.
Currently, DTI said its monitoring teams in field offices have been deployed to ‘actively’ inspect markets, verify prices, and guarantee an ‘adequate and continuous’ supply of these basic goods in all affected communities.
Roque said the department will be ‘vigilant’ in making sure that consumers are protected from undue price increases.
DTI said the automatic price freeze immediately took effect upon the declaration of a State of Calamity by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (Resolution 1985, Series of 2025).
Visayas grid on yellow alert
THE National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) on Wednesday placed the Visayas grid on yellow alert until midnight after 27 power plants, with 1,444 megawatts (MW) of total capacity, went on forced outage owing to the 6.9-magnuitude earthquake that struck Cebu.
A yellow alert is issued when the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s contingency requirement. The Visayas grid’s available capacity stood at 1,888 MW as against a peak demand of 1,839MW. The alert is in effect from 1p.m. to 9 p.m.
The grid operator also reported 16 more power plants that have been unavailable even prior to the incident, while one other is running on derated capacity.
In all, a total of 1654.7 MW was shaved off from the grid as of Wednesday noon.
The Luzon and Mindanao grids, meanwhile, are under normal condition.
Meralco PowerGen Corporation (Mgen), the power generation arm of Meralco, said its thermal plants in the Visayas-Cebu Energy Development Corporation (CEDC) and Toledo Power Company (TPC)-tripped as a safety precaution during the seismic event.
CEDC, which has a net saleable capacity of 219.7 MW, and TPC, with a net saleable capacity of 73 MW, were promptly inspected by technical teams.
Earlier in the day, MGen said two units of CEDC and one unit of TPC have already been safely restarted and synchronized to the grid, while the remaining unit is undergoing inspection and will be brought back online progressively.
As of press time, MGen said ‘all CEDC units and TPC unit are already synced to the grid.’
Mgen said it is closely coordinating with the Department of Energy, NGCP, and local authorities to support system stability and help meet the power needs of Cebu and the Visayas grid.
The National Electrification Administration (NEA) said there are 24 electric cooperatives (ECs) across 10 provinces in four regions that reported power interruptions caused by the earthquake.
It said that restoration efforts are ongoing for 844,428 affected consumer connections.
Meanwhile, the DOE, in coordination with the NGCP, power generation companies, and ECs, mobilized sector-wide efforts to immediately secure power supply to hospitals, water stations, and other lifeline facilities.
The DOE said that as of 9:00 a.m., significant progress has been reported in the Visayas, with 214 out of 309 affected towns (69.26 percent) already energized. The status across ECs, however, remains varied as 15 are operating normally; four are experiencing partial power interruptions and five continue to face total power interruptions. The DOE said restoration efforts are actively underway to bring electricity back to 844,428 consumer connections.
Meanwhile, Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines has suspended the market operations in the Visayas grid beginning 10:05 p.m. of September 30.