BusinessWorld February 23, 2021 | 6:24 pm By Victor Andres C. Manhit Before the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic, the country’s grid system operator, National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), reported a looming power shortage over the Luzon grid in the summer months of 2020. However, COVID-19 happened. The lockdowns implemented to slow the spread of the virus sent severe shocks throughout the country’s economic sectors. As a result, the Department of Energy (DoE) later revealed that electricity consumption dropped by 30% in Luzon during the initial quarantine, effectively avoiding last year’s looming summer power shortage. An unintentional effect of the deep economic slump brought about by the continuing quarantine is that it bought the country’s energy sector additional time to realign with the country’s shifting power demands.