According to the City Development Council, the local economy consistently grew by leaps and bounds from the pre-pandemic level of P125.05 billion to reach a record high gross domestic product of P139.47 billion in 2022.
However, the city and the entire peninsula are now vulnerable to power fluctuations and prolonged outages. However, the inaction by the Energy Regulatory Commission on the contract is now threatening the reliability not only of the city’s power supply but that of the entire peninsula as well. In a social media post, Zamboanga City Electric Cooperative, the city’s primary distributor of electricity, has also highlighted the vital role of the ASPA between WMPC and NGCP in maintaining a stable power supply not only in Zamboanga but in the entire Mindanao Grid.
The power outage in Panay in January of this year resulted in economic losses of P3.8 billion to the Iloilo province. In Zamboanga, an hour of power outage can cause approximately P5 million to P14 million in economic losses.