- 20 minutes ago
How does Visayan Electric keep Cebu powered amid growing electricity demand?
Join us on Beyond the Headlines as we take a closer look at how Visayan Electric powers Cebu and addresses the challenges affecting the electricity supply.
We’ll also discuss the reduction of rotational brownouts—from up to 2.5 hours to just one hour—and what this means for consumers.
Our guest today is Mr. Erik Monsanto, Head of Marketing and Communications of Visayan Electric.
🔴 Tune in LIVE and be part of the conversation!
Join us on Beyond the Headlines as we take a closer look at how Visayan Electric powers Cebu and addresses the challenges affecting the electricity supply.
We’ll also discuss the reduction of rotational brownouts—from up to 2.5 hours to just one hour—and what this means for consumers.
Our guest today is Mr. Erik Monsanto, Head of Marketing and Communications of Visayan Electric.
🔴 Tune in LIVE and be part of the conversation!
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NewsTranscript
00:19it starts with a fresh shot of espresso bold rich bold just right
00:28then comes the milk steamed smooth creamy and balanced the perfect latte is not brushed
00:36it is crafted one cup at a time your perfect latte is ready coffee first then everything else
00:46good afternoon and welcome to beyond the headlines i'm dj moises and today's conversation is brought
00:53to us by coffee first for many sub 10 households and businesses the power interruptions are
01:01disrupting homes business and work while electricity rates continue to be a concern what exactly is
01:10happening to cebu's power supply let's look deeper and think better today we speak with eric monsanto
01:19head of marketing and communications of visayan electric to help us understand what is behind
01:26the current power situation and most importantly what consumers can expect next hi eric welcome to
01:34beyond the headlines good afternoon sir dj thank you so much for allowing us the time to be your program
01:42and thank you also for being here no so when we actually did our research no we found out that
01:49in september 5 for example mindanao was placed on yellow alert and visayas was also on red alert which
01:57could be indicators that uh both grids are were in tremendous pressure so how widespread exactly is the
02:06power crisis so the power crisis so the crisis is not localized to cebu this is a regional issue
02:14so places like negros some are uh mindanao they also have their own uh supply outages there so
02:21delete me problem but it's it's uh widespread again this is a regional issue
02:28um and we keep hearing about power supply shortage no so can although we've guessed that already um
02:38engineer mark no in several episodes but uh just for for the viewers to be refreshed how serious
02:48exactly is the power supply shortage i think the best one to ask about it sir is the department of
02:57energy
02:57okay their position to address specifics of the power shortage what i can say however is that
03:06this uh situation where we are in right now illustrates how fragile our grid is
03:15so as of this time are we heading towards the state in which we can say that we will eventually
03:24we get better we get better very soon or are we still on the curve headed towards potentially
03:31experiencing yet the worst um again uh i think doa has a better vantage point when it comes to that
03:41question sir so hopefully as beside electric we are also hoping that the situation stabilizes soon
03:49mm-hmm and and and at least from what you are hearing no although we'll also seek the input coming
03:56from the
03:56department of energy but just in case at least for the benefit of our viewers can from one hour
04:04in the expand namang good sya karoon for to 2.5 hours so the common question here is is this
04:13finally it
04:15now which is 2.5 or simbako no are we going to head towards even longer than 2.5 hours
04:22at least from what
04:23you're hearing on the ground from what i'm hearing on the ground i think i got the worst in that
04:29though
04:29was on september 3 but on that two and a half hours that sir but after that but september four
04:36and five
04:37they're going to be able to do one and a half they're going to be able to stabilize
04:41naman gamay and supply no yeah um yeah that's not a sub-tube supply
04:45nang mindanao balik nato camera me online nato balik
04:49ang planta nga na down nila dito um but um kanila i would like to mention this
04:55okay um randili kay ni noom satanan uh angay nina to sila pasalamatan
04:59nga during those times we're in severe good ang ang supply nato nga issue no well we have several
05:07companies in cebu who did uh participate or kaneng ni kuha silang ni nag voluntary load
05:14dropping ba mainly these are the cement factories that we have taiheyo apo cement republic
05:20and also there are participants atong ilp nga dakko yun dakko yung natabang nga ni stabilize
05:32atong grade at the time and and yeah kaneng that's also kaneng added assistance no because at least the
05:40bigger kaneng companies in cebu that you mentioned who have who have who has the ability to generate their
05:49own power are actually contributing not to to fulfill or to fill the gap between uh uh what's
05:57desired and and the current supply that is available now so at least for now how much or how much
06:05is uh
06:06the activity you know the conversation that's ongoing with respect to department of energy uh ngcp
06:12and and and utilities no providers utility providers such as beko um we are closely coordinating with each
06:22other sir because um this situation uh requires us to uh let's say uh manage the the grid uh efficiently
06:32and
06:33very carefully uh uh very carefully uh uh medyo kung limited supply we have to really closely coordinate
06:39with ngcp or it so atong mga allocations uh don't you ma distribute fairly such at the customers
06:47and we know also that there are critical facilities no such as hospitals uh also water systems telecoms
06:56how are they also how are they also how is veko for example ensuring that that the disruption will be
07:03kept at the minimum now for critical facilities such as those that i mentioned well we are uh leveraging our
07:11ilp sir now and these facilities especially hospitals free and they provide uh a vital uh service to our
07:21community we as much as possible we prioritize that they be supplied with power continuously
07:30and and at least for the viewers no kanang ang veko mangyid ang closest to the consumers but we also
07:38recall nga before veko there is a uh transmission which is ngcp and ito ang kaning uh power supply generators
07:47and correct me if i'm wrong the the shortage is really on the power supply generation side no not
07:54necessarily on the transmission and the distribution um again can you end up not the point sir um this is
08:01something that uh not a lot of people uh understand uh veko is downstream the problem is upstream in the
08:09generation uh generation and nasa gamay's transmissions or not okay um we could have we could possibly get
08:16more power from uh like let's say the lozon or the mindanao grid but there are constraints as to the
08:24inter-island connection so uh that that could that could also be an issue of that and and we also
08:32heard
08:32that last week uh uh cebu province uh governor pamela baric 4 actually called for a meeting no with doe
08:41ngcp uh veko and even sebeko and other kanang energy stakeholders what were the action steps that that
08:50that emerged from that meeting i was there at the meeting um what actually happened was that the governor
08:58called all the relevant stakeholders to be present and shed light on the actual situation so i think
09:07that the oe and ngcp were able to explain once again the root cause uh problem even uh if i
09:15was not
09:15and if i remember it correctly even uh provincial administrator ace turano said that uh
09:22uh one uh that is the use the distribution utility should be loaded for their efforts to ensure
09:30uh whatever little supply we have is distributed yet fairly to the consumers but as far as canning uh
09:39concrete action items are concerned i remembered uh governor pam signing two executive orders one of them is
09:48uh canning voluntary uh to answer uh or deloating but we're in uh government offices under the province
09:57will uh turn off their uh lights and uh electricity consumption from 8 pm to 9 pm and i think
10:06uh it
10:09it had a positive influence okay if i'm not mistaken i i read in the news this morning or was
10:17it yesterday
10:18that the mayor of the city uh mayor archival also adopted the same measure
10:23uh and what was the other one because you mentioned that there were two executive orders that came
10:35out from that meeting yes sir i think it concerns the power supply of malapaswa island so
10:42for one man i think they're trying to make it more regular i am not really into the specifics of
10:51that
10:52okay um right that's outside our service area but uh getting uh focus on the book why the
10:59economy for me now at that time is again a young top stock nasa football also got a program we're
11:06in uh it really
11:07covers the uh the whole province okay she is also encouraging uh lgo's to adopt the same measure
11:14and hopefully it will get any much wider support and adoption okay this will really help us stabilize this
11:23uh issue murara good need it atong atong atong dibuha tabang sebu tabang pogo
11:29kanang murag kuhan lang bang murag a spirit of volunteerism
11:33hindi ba umang gitang uh minus kitang supply maybe at kuhan lang gamay pagsabot ato
11:39lang siguro pong kuhan lang tabangan ang atong grid nga maka kuhan tam sa mga pila
11:44uska oras raman na usagka oras ito nga usahay nga brownout ato lang katagagama yung pagsabot ron kaya medyo
11:51kuhan yun yun yun yun yun ang pag-manager's flight correct me if i'm wrong but i also heard that
11:57there is an upcoming summit no specifically to discuss this particular crisis but at least going
12:03back to the meeting with the governor were there other timelines that were discussed
12:11um i cannot remember specifically timelines now i think the ob was asked the same question but i
12:19do not remember it okay i was uh also talking to other stakeholders at the back we have uh things
12:25to discuss but i'm sure during the energy summit uh that's the time we're in we will really see
12:33whatever action plans were were made or that they uh all the stakeholders in the
12:40um electricity sector can come up with okay we're a katomanggong meeting with governor
12:46for a plan to share certain and uh medyo kalik kalit but in fact i was in manila at that
12:52time so i
12:53have to apply in to sebu on friday and be there at the capitol straight from the airport came at
12:58joe kuhan dito um right i think we were in for the day before but um i don't think it
13:06was
13:06sufficient time to come up with kind of plans but we already have uh something uh something uh
13:13within that was revealed during the energy summit um um can you put and this is an opportunity also for
13:22veco no to confirm or or at least say no this is not exactly true but we're also kind of
13:30hearing
13:30observations from consumers that in spite of the rotational brownouts which would could mean
13:37not to an everyday person there should have been lesser usage of electricity but we've also been
13:44hearing feedback from consumers that the rate that they are paying on a month is also rising
13:50no which is which is actually which is actually if this is true no which is actually strange considering
13:55that they are supposed to be using less power with rotational brownouts in the equation
14:03so i think tuana sir mo apply natya i mean dynamics without supply and demand uh we are getting supply
14:11now from
14:12the western organic wholesale electricity spot market um and also other factors that are driving up prices like
14:22you will you will cost uh and then a dollar exchange rate uh there are factors that are driving the
14:32rates
14:33up so yeah and i am not sure so maybe you can also comment on this because there was a
14:44a a public
14:47information that was released on june of 2026 for example and then and and this is from veco veco which
14:55actually announced that residential rate increased to 13.74 kilowatt uh hour with the increase attributed to
15:06tight supply conditions and rising generation cost no so what does generation charge actually mean no
15:13with respect to this one man this is just for every day someone has to be educated also so generation
15:20charge is the actual cost of uh uh the the power being generated no these are these are um charges
15:30that are
15:32that are dictated by the what by by the supply no supply and demand um um caning generation charges
15:52uh so these are charges that are done upstream from us ah so so so the the generation charges correct
16:00me if i'm wrong is coming from the power generators also and then these are coming from the power and
16:08then
16:09and then the cost is passed through veco because ang veco and ang uh ang utilities no that are closest
16:18to
16:18the consumer so moragic collect na lang sya at one time yes sir does this also mean the same principle
16:25applies to transmission charge also yes sir pretty much uh it's the same pass through charges
16:49um because um all um aspects all perhaps without they they really tried to make the the rates of
17:03electricity transparent so everyone can see where all the components of your bill is coming from
17:10so while this may be a good thing um people tend to look at uh these charges as where without
17:18add-ons to
17:19their to their go to their uh consumption so uh because of uh the ibera loan these were these charges
17:29were unbundled that's why we could see all these uh charges uh being made to our electricity bill
17:36and ako sad it's really because marag nagkamahal namang yun no karun ang mga palaliton
17:41this is also the time in which i really was able to make time no to really look at my
17:47electricity bill
17:48no kay katong sa una i have to admit i wasn't really watching but now medyo lisod namang yun ang
17:54panahon so we get to
17:55look at areas where we can really save no so kanina mga charges but correct me if i'm i mean
18:02for education purposes are they fixed charges or they also vary in terms of per kilowatt hour consumption
18:09they vary per kilowatt hour consumption so your your your your electricity bill is dependent upon your
18:18consumption so in in that case then how can what are your suggestions no or hacks na lang that you
18:27can
18:27share to everyday consumers like me on how we can still save in our yeah actually this is a good
18:35question but it's also a serious question um basic tips of course we would tell you to
18:43kind of switch to led lighting and plug your appliances whether it's brown out or not uh if
18:51the appliances that in use please unplug those uh those gadgets we would also like you to turn off your
18:59lights in areas of your house that are unoccupied but um we also recognize that each household has
19:08unique circumstances like for example i have a friend young electricity bill is around 12 000 to
19:15to almost 16 when yeah i asked him if it's okay and he said yes it's okay because we have
19:22an elderly
19:23person at home who is sick and that 16 000 monthly is nothing compared to the daily charge of bringing
19:31this
19:32person to the icu so they are not to recognize that you can recognize the circumstances at home so we
19:40cannot really let's say that you can make it so i think it's up for our consumers to evaluate their
19:52specific needs to find the appropriate balance between their energy efficiency and personal requirements
20:00um and then the other alongside while nag nag nag nag story i'm also reminded that incidentally
20:08nagkainitsad ang panahon so that also means uh aircon use no an electric fan use so so medyo
20:20anang naghanig combination of mga punches no that consumers like me also experience every day so final
20:26na lang i know that ang veco is really on on the downstream no and closest to the consumers there's
20:32still transmission there's still generation also that needs to be significantly addressed but at least
20:38for the context of today's interview what would be the assurance that we can give no to everyday
20:44sebuanos and everyday filipinos that this situation one day will get better um can i get sir again um this
20:54is
20:55under the overview of the doe okay from where we sit we cannot really speculate so there's shortage if the
21:02shortage will persist of course i'm gonna get the rotational groundouts will continue so we are just
21:09can i mean we're just hoping that uh this this this uh current crisis or this current situation will
21:17stabilize soon okay okay so let's just hope uh things will get better and that we can come up with
21:34more
21:34concrete plans to address the situation okay uh uh business companies uh design electricity said
21:40may ganahan that was in the rotational ground um sige thank you very much eric for your time no and
21:47at
21:47least for for for for giving our viewers the opportunity to better understand the situation the power
21:54situation that we are in in not just in cebu but also in the besayas and mindanao yes sir thank
22:01you
22:01said guy for the time uh for allowing us to be here my apologies i cannot be there at the
22:06studio sir
22:06okay i have another meeting coming up in a couple of minutes yeah we we also understand no given the
22:12situation i can just imagine that you are in many meetings no happening yes sir maybe next time we will
22:20visit you yes so hopefully the situation will become better no okay medyo listen listen
22:30yun ang kanang especially now nga napoy katong haze so ang atong mga studyante i think karoon
22:37ng elementary yug high school are still kanang learning remotely no plus napod tay combination
22:42rotation rotation brownouts plus ang init po sa panahon which also has something to do with better
22:49cooling kanang equipments at home so kung i butang na ito nitanan in one equation this is really heavy to
22:58everyday sabwano so hopefully kaning problema nato sa power will come to a resolution di ba na ito
23:04makontrol ang haze di na ito makontrol ang rising temperature but at least no we we will have
23:11a solution very soon with respect to power generation or power supply so that we will all be back to
23:19normal no so for consumers it is not just about having electricity it is about having reliable and
23:27predictable power whether we are at home at work or in business after going through rotational brownouts
23:35for weeks actually they started sometime in august pa no this is no longer just about getting the
23:42lights back on but making sure that they stay on so i'm dj moise shout out to coffee first for
23:50conversations that matter this is beyond the headlines let's continue to look deeper and think better
23:55have a good afternoon
23:57it starts with a fresh shot of espresso bold rich pulled just right
24:12then comes the milk steamed smooth creamy and balanced the perfect latte is not brushed it is crafted
24:21one cup at a time your perfect latte is ready coffee first then everything else
24:30is
24:39you
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