A CONSUMER group is urging power distributors and electric cooperatives to end what it calls the annual “January Brownout” tradition while urging the power sector to come up with a reliability plan to prevent this from happening.
In the last two years, the Partners for Affordable and Reliable Energy (PARE) noted that, at the turn of the New Year, there have been seemingly more frequent and widespread power outages in January.
On Jan. 2, 2024, just a day after New Year celebrations, Western Visayas, including Panay and Guimaras, was plunged into a massive blackout. The outage lasted for several days, affecting around 4.5 million people and causing hundreds of millions in estimated economic losses. Full power was restored only by January 5.
In early January 2025, consumers again endured a wave of scheduled and unscheduled power interruptions in parts of Luzon and the Visayas. Maintenance work and system issues forced many families to adjust their work, school, and small-business operations around hours without electricity.
Filipino households have now welcomed both January 2024 and January 2025 in the dark. Blackouts and prolonged interruptions turned what should be a season of joy into a period of anxiety, lost income, and daily disruption. As the country enters January 2026, consumers expect a power sector that prioritizes reliability over excuses and press statements, and that treats every home as a priority rather than collateral damage of a fragile energy system.
Nic Satur Jr., chief advocate officer of PARE, emphasized that the recurring pattern of holiday and New Year outages is unacceptable. He noted that households already pay one of the highest electricity rates in Southeast Asia.
In Western Visayas, the January 2024 blackout left Panay and Guimaras in darkness for days. Residents and businesses were severely affected, exposing how vulnerable the grid becomes when multiple power plants trip simultaneously.
“Families who faithfully pay their bills each month should not have to welcome the new year worrying about whether the lights will stay on,” Satur said.
“For two straight years, Filipino families have started January with brownouts instead of stability,” Satur added. “This 2026, consumers are not asking for miracles. We are asking for a power sector that does its basic job and keeps the lights on.”
For PARE and allied consumer groups, January 2026 should serve as a test of whether government and industry have learned from the Panay crisis and subsequent interruptions.
They argue that this year should bring fewer large-scale outages, faster restoration times, lower system losses, and clear, verifiable plans to prevent a repeat of January 2024 and 2025. “If after all the Senate and Congress hearings and statements we still start 2026 in the dark, then the government has chosen excuses over consumers,” Satur said.
The group is calling on DOE, NGCP, ERC, NEA, and distribution utilities to jointly publish a January reliability plan jointly. This plan should detail available reserves, contingency measures, and safeguards for vulnerable islands and provinces. It should also ensure that critical power plants follow approved maintenance schedules, that workable backup options are in place when large units trip, and that transmission constraints do not once again turn January power interruptions into island-wide blackouts.
