Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras, visibly displeased at the way the recent power outage was handled, called on the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) “to be transparent and answerable” to Filipino consumers on the extent of repairs it has been undertaking following the Luzon-wide blackouts that proved unsettling for the newly-seated administration.

The energy chief strictly ordered “NGCP to be answerable to the customers and consumers,” stressing further that the company “should exercise transparency regarding the repairs and fulfill their promises to the consumers, especially on commitments on restoration of the grid damaged by typhoon Basyang.”

Almendras similarly showed displeasure over ongoing “blame-game” among power utilities instead of exercising close coordination to bring back power supply to consumers’ homes and businesses.

NGCP’s premature announcement of its plan to recover costs for repair of damages by passing it on to consumers has likewise compounded the problem and enraged affected customers.

NGCP was primarily blamed for its alleged inequities resulting in very slow pace of power supply restoration, a situation that was not experienced by the country even during the onslaught of super typhoon “Milenyo.”

Power plant operators and distribution utilities all point to NGCP culpabilities for not “delivering fast” on the repair front so power supply may be restored quickly in affected areas.

Meralco, in particular, was forced to implement rotating brownouts last Thursday because of supply lack.

“We have fully restored our circuits. We are now just concentrating on bringing supply to areas with localized problems,” Meralco external communications manager Joe Zaldarriaga said.

Meanwhile, the NGCP said the Luzon grid is now stable with available capacity of 7,466 megawatts as against peak demand of only 6,396mW. The system operator also said it has a reserve requirement of 1,070mW.

With its stable capacity, the NGCP said that no rotating brownout was scheduled on Friday.