The electricity sector in the Philippines provides electricity through power generation, transmission, and distribution to many parts of the country. The Philippines is divided into three electrical grids, one each for Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.
As of June 2016, the total installed capacity in the Philippines was 20,055 megawatts (MW), of which 71.5% was on the Luzon grid. About 12% of Filipinos have no access to electricity. The Philippines is also one of the countries in the world that has a fully functioning electricity market since 2006 called the Philippine Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) and is operated by an independent market operator. By 2017, coal-powered electric energy began to comprise more than 50% of the nationwide power generation in the country.
As of 2025, the Philippines has the second-highest electricity rate in Southeast Asia after Singapore.
History
Manila La Electricista La Electricista, founded in 1892, was the very first electric company to provide electricity in Manila. It built the first electric generating plant in the country, the Central Power Plant, on Calle San Sebastián (now Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo Street) in Manila.
Meralco Meralco was established as the Manila Electric Railroad and Light Company in 1903. It was created to provide light and an electric railway system to Manila.
During World War II the transportation infrastructure of Meralco was destroyed and instead of rebuilding the railway, the company focused its efforts onto its electric services.
During the 1960s, a group of Filipino investors led by Eugenio Lopez Sr. bought Meralco from its American investors. Meralco proceeded to expand during this time, it was also during this period that Meralco became the very first billion peso company in the Philippines.
During the 1970s, the Philippine government made it a state policy to nationalize major power generation facilities. Meralco sold all of its generating plants to the National Power Corporation (NAPOCOR/NPC) and, thus, electric distribution became its core business, until the deregulation of the electric power market in March 1, 2003, when TransCo took over the Philippine power grid from NAPOCOR.
20th Century On July 28, 1969, Republic Act No. 6038 or the National Electrification Administration Act was approved.
On December 9, 1992, Republic Act No. 7638 or the Department of Energy Act of 1991, which created the Department of Energy, was approved.
On December 8, 1994, Republic Act No. 7832 or the Anti-electricity and Electric Transmission Lines/Materials Pilferage Act of 1994, which penalizes the theft of electricity and line materials, was approved.https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1139447
On June 8, 2001, Republic Act No. 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 or EPIRA Law was approved.
On December 16, 2008, Republic Act No. 9513 or the Renewable Energy Act of 2008 was approved.
On May 7, 2013, Republic Act No. 10531 or the National Electrification Administration Reform Act of 2013, which amends Presidential Decree No 269, was approved.
On April 12, 2019, Republic Act No. 11285 or the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act was approved.https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1069330
On August 8, 2019, Republic Act No. 11361 or the Anti Obstruction of Power Lines Act was approved.https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1081085
21st century On August 8, 2019, Republic Act No. 11371 or the Murang Kuryente Act was approved.
In January 2022, President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law Republic Act 11646 that aims to spur microgrid development in unserved and underserved areas nationwide to achieve the government's goal of 100 percent electrification in the country.
On January 8, 2025, Republic Act No. 12120 or the Philippine Natural Gas Industry Development Act was approved.
Power generation
Power generation in the Philippines is not considered as a public utility operation, which means interested parties do not need to secure a congressional franchise to operate a power generation company. However, power generation is regulated by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) who must issue a certificate of compliance to interested parties to ensure that the standards set forth in the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA) are followed. The ERC is also responsible for determining any power abuse or anti-competitive behavior.
Electricity in the Philippines is produced from various sources such as coal, oil, natural gas, biomass, hydroelectric, solar, wind, and geothermal sources. The allocation of electricity production can be seen in the table below, according to data from the Department of Energy Power Statistics: Source Percentage Coal 42.8% Oil-Based 7.4%Natural Gas 24.2%Hydro 11.8%Geothermal 13.3%Other Renewable Sources (Wind, Solar, Biomass) 0.05% Table 1. Power generation by source as of 2014
Source Operational Hydroelectric 29 Geothermal 11Solar/Photovoltaic 2Wind 4Coal 11Diesel 5Natural Gas 3Oil 1
Table 2. Number of operational power plants in the Philippines
Fossil fuels Coal, oil, and natural gas are the most abundant fossil fuels in the Philippines.
Coal Coal has the largest reserve and is often the cheapest fossil fuel. Throughout the years, the demand for coal has been steady despite environmental concerns. According to Energy Global, there is potentially an approximate of 270 billion tons of coal resources.
In 2017, total electric energy produced from coal began to comprise more than 50% of the nationwide gross power generation, and by 2024, the Philippines surpassed Indonesia in having the most coal-dependent grid in Southeast Asia. Although the government had halted the acceptance of new coal power plants in 2020 to encourage investment in other energy sources, the rise in coal-powered energy production has been credited to the coal-driven ventures of San Miguel Corporation and Aboitiz Group.
Oil and natural gas
Renewable resources
Geothermal power
Hydroelectric power
Hydropower is the second dominant renewable energy resource in the Philippines. There are various hydropower plants spread out across the country. Large hydropower plants (more than 50 MW generating capacity) are connected directly to the main transmission grid whereas small (10-50 MW generating capacity) and mini (101 kW to 10 MW generating capacity) hydropower plants are connected to local distribution systems. According to International Renewable Energy Agency, the country has a total potential of 10 GW untapped hydroelectric power.
Biomass power
Despite its huge potential, there has never been any operational WtE project to date due to the lack of financing and management support in the city and municipality levels as well as the conflict with the prevailing "Philippine Clean Air Act (RA 8749)" which prohibits incineration of MSW. According to a feasibility study on waste-to-energy (W2E) of municipal solid waste (MSW), a 100 ton/day W2E plant in the Philippines has an estimated energy generation potentials of 21 GWh/year from incineration, 24 GWh/year from gasification, and 24 GWh/year from pyrolysis. These energy generation potentials may still be increased if the plant capacity is higher than the assumed 100 ton of MSW per day.
Wind power
Solar energy In 2015, three solar farms were constructed in the Philippines. The Philippines receives over 7kWh per square meter per day during its peak month of April and lowest at 3kWh per square meter per day during its off-peak month of December as observed by Schadow1 Expeditions in 33 cities of the country. Given the country's geographic location advantage and the potential for generating electricity from solar, the solar energy is expected to increase from the current 1.2% of 23 GW to at least 3.5% of 43 GW capacity by 2040. As of 2024, the Philippines had surpassed 2,500 MW of installed solar capacity, based on official Department of Energy statistics.
Power transmission
Power transmission in the Philippines is a common carrier business (i.e. regulated by the government, serves its franchise area without discrimination, responsible for any losses incurred during delivery). It is regulated by the ERC who has rate-making powers and the final say in the valuation of transmission assets. Pursuant to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) and the Transmission Development Plan or TDP, maintenance and operations of the nationwide transmission system was subjected to competitive public bidding conducted by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM).
Grids The Philippine transmission system is composed of three grids, the Luzon Grid, Visayas Grid, and Mindanao Grid. One characteristic of the grids is that most bulk generation sites are found far from the load centers, necessitating use of long-distance transmission lines. Some power lines of the Luzon Grid connect to or are located within Metro Manila which is its load center such as the overhead Sucat–Araneta–Balintawak (commissioned in 2000), the Duhat–Balintawak segment of Hermosa–Duhat–Balintawak (commissioned in June 1994), San Jose–Balintawak (lines 1–3), Biñan–Muntinlupa, and Dasmariñas–Las Piñas (commissioned on November 30, 2001) transmission lines.
The Luzon Grid has also a network of 500,000 volt transmission lines since 1994 thus the 500,000 volt voltage level is the highest operating voltage of the Luzon Grid as well as the Philippine power grid since the said year, with the first 500,000 volt line to be constructed is the San Jose–Tayabas–Naga transmission line which started its construction in 1982 and completed in 1994.
Through the HVDC Leyte-Luzon which is a high voltage direct current transmission line and submarine cable with a transfer capacity of 440 MW between Naga and Ormoc, the Luzon Grid is interconnected with the Visayas Grid. The Visayas Grid is composed of five small grids (sub-grid) connected with submarine cables, but arranged in a radial configuration, that may disconnect one sub-grid in case a fault develop on one submarine cable interconnection. The Mindanao Grid is composed of 138,000 volt lines for long-distance transmission, and primarily relies on hydropower, usually from Agus Hydroelectric Power Plant in Iligan and Pulangi IV Hydroelectric Power Plant in Bukidnon.
The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines placed proposals for submarine cable links between Visayas and Mindanao, to unify the three principal grids, and between off-grid Mindoro and Luzon, to increase power reliability in the off-grid island . While the three main grids encompass each island group, many islands still remain off-grid, relying on localized power plants or power barges for supply.
Resiliency and security
The Philippines transmission grids are prone to natural disasters, aging and outside factors that causes the steel and wood towers to corrode or decay, and grid security is compromised by squatters and insurgent groups. Squatters, or "informal settlers", pose a danger to transmission lines and a hindrance to line maintenance, especially in Metro Manila. The Mindanao Grid is prone to sabotage, led by insurgent groups and unknown assailants, and many transmission towers have been damaged or collapsed from consecutive bombings, that may cause a cascading failure of the grid.
Damage to several power plants and a transmission line after the April 2017 earthquake swarm in Batangas reflected the need of power resiliency, resulting the Department of Energy to draft a policy to improve power supply resiliency.