The Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ) and Sanlakas staged a protest against the Department of Energy (DoE) in Cebu City on July 16, calling for the revocation of coal plant licenses and disallowing the expansion of Therma Visayas, Inc. (TVI) Unit 3 coal plant in Cebu.
The activists' stance is at odds with the facts, however. The Philippines' coal use is minuscule compared to major Asian countries. In 2025, the country's full-year coal generation was 72.3 terawatt-hours (TWh), which is equivalent to only three to four days of China's coal generation, three weeks of India's, and five weeks of the US'. Furthermore, per capita coal generation in the Philippines was only 634 kilowatt-hour (kWh) per person, significantly lower than many other countries.
Critics of coal often overlook its importance in powering businesses and households. Coal is a vital source of energy for lighting up homes, businesses, and offices, and should not be dismissed outright.
The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) announced an increase in the transmission charge in June, from P1.45/kWh in May to P1.46/kWh in June. This increase is attributed to pass-through costs, including ancillary services (AS) providers.
Ancillary services aim to stabilize supply fluctuations or add supply when there is insufficiency relative to power demand. As more intermittent solar and wind energy production providers enter the grid, the need for ancillary services will rise, leading to further increases in transmission charges. Subsidies to renewable energy (RE) via FIT-All and GEA-All will also increase.
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) announced the temporary suspension of Power Delivery Service (PDS) charges for energy storage systems (ESS) to support power system reliability during declared national energy emergencies. Energy storage facilities can now draw from the grid solely for storage when prices are low, and later reinject power to the grid when the supply is low and prices are high, to help stabilize grid operations and prices.
The ERC's move is a step in the right direction, aiming to support grid reliability and energy security while upholding fairness, transparency, and consumer protection.
The Philippines and many Asian countries have rising battery energy storage system (BESS) capacity, mainly through grid-scale storage or utility-level systems. However, residential rooftop solar and on-site commercial batteries remain limited, with an estimated 24 megawatts (MW) of capacity in 2025.
The ERC data show that as of June 30, there were 23,684 net-metering (NM) "prosumers" with a combined capacity of 232 MW at the peak, and 181 distributed energy resources (DER) participants with a 226 MW peak. Despite this growth, the net-metering pricing system has its limitations, with daytime prices often cheaper than nighttime prices.
A pricing differential is necessary to reflect the actual costs of energy production and consumption. For instance, a household with rooftop solar without a battery should pay a higher price for importing electricity at night when prices are high, rather than exporting electricity during the day when prices are low.
