With very thin power supply reserves, what happens when unexpectedly 19 power plants in Luzon and 13 power plants in Visayas all conk out on the same time? Such forced power outage exactly took place last Tuesday when the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) raised red and yellow alert status in its Luzon and Visayas transmission grids. Under red alert status, power supply is insufficient to meet consumer demand. Yellow alert, on the other hand, is raised when the operating power reserve is insufficient to meet the transmission grid's contingency requirement.