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I am planning to visit Luzon, Philippines, and would probably be staying either in Manila or in Morong, Bataan, possibly in a private residence.

I've read that the electric power system in the Philippines is overtaxed and that rolling blackouts are common. However, some sources have mentioned it as a daily occurrence during hot & dry spells, while others cite only very occasional but major failures.

Are there indeed regular blackouts in these locations, and if so how often do the blackouts typically occur and how long do they typically last?

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    Why not ask your hosts what the situation is in their neighborhood. The reliability of power in developing nations varies from town to town and from neighborhood to neighborhood.
    – user13044
    Commented Mar 5, 2017 at 22:02
  • What @Tom says. I haven't noticed any power failures in the Philippines at all in 6 weeks all around Luzon, except for today on Masbate. It will surely depend on the season & weather too
    – Bas
    Commented Mar 6, 2017 at 8:20
  • Three years ago I was a week in Luzon, another week in Manila and another in Palaan. In more remote areas of Palaan generators where ubiquitous, never had power falling on me in Luzon and Manila.
    – Rui F Ribeiro
    Commented Mar 8, 2017 at 1:44

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I live in Dumaguete and we do have blackouts. They last most of the day and happen about once, maybe twice a month. I have never seen daily blackouts even on the hottest months. The more you leave the bigger cities the more you will have blackouts. Most of the cooking done in these areas is by fire or gas and most of the local places you visit will not have A/C so losing power isn't as big of a deal here. It depends on what you want the power for as to how important you will find having it to be. About the only thing I miss during the blackout is wifi. I bought a pocket wifi from a local carrier to solve that problem.

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I am in Manila for a year now and have not experienced rolling blackouts. So there's no need to worry about Manila, particularly in Quezon City.

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Rolling blackouts are a common problem throughout the Philippines, not just limited to hot months or certain areas. While announced power interruptions are frequent, particularly in Mindanao, unplanned outages can strike anywhere due to a variety of factors. These emergency interruptions may be caused by severe weather, natural disasters, or sometimes even the smallest of creatures, as demonstrated by the incident in Puerto Princesa where a gecko triggered a city-wide blackout by getting caught on electrical lines (https://palawan-news.com/gecko-causes-city-power-outage/). I'm not sure about the situation in Morong, Bataan specifically, but rolling blackouts are also a regular occurrence in Lipa City, Batangas. While maintenance and upgrades are ongoing, disruptions will likely continue to be an issue across many Philippine regions. Both scheduled and unscheduled interruptions are a reality that residents nationwide have sadly grown accustomed to.

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In the Philippines specially Visayas and Mindanao rolling black-outs occur frequently. Specially on summer when it is hot. Most of the source of electricity here is via water. Which would dry up on summer.

But big cities like Manila and Cebu don't experience this too much as they are given priority, especially for businesses that operate there.

Mindanao has it the worst. They get the rolling blackouts even when it's not summer.

But if you'll be staying in Luzon it shouldn't be much of a problem. A larger problem in Manila is traffic.

Welcome to the Philippines.

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