A brownout (or outage) is a loss of electricity service potentially caused by various factors like maintenance activities, emergency conditions, and on-going facility upgrades.

The cause of a brownout depends on whether it is a: (1) Planned Brownout or an (2) Unplanned Brownout.

A Planned Brownout allows us to conduct maintenance activities, upgrade line and/or substation equipment and facilities, relocate facilities as necessitated by government projects (e.g., road widening), or construct and extend facilities to serve additional customers. If you’re going to be affected by this type of brownout, we will advise you at least 72 hours before the actual time of service interruption.

An Unplanned Brownout is usually a result of emergency conditions that lead to a service interruption. It may be caused by factors that are beyond our control, such as generation deficiency, adverse weather conditions, and/or foreign objects coming into contact with power lines and equipment. Failure of line hardware, components and devices directly connected to power lines also cause this type of brownout. If you are affected by this, you can view and monitor the status via the Outage map. If there is no available brownout information in the map, you may file a report through the brownout reporting form.

Incidents that you can report via Meralco website, Meralco online or Meralco mobile App can be categorized into:

  1. Streetlight Concerns – for when you observe that a streetlight is malfunctioning (no power, flickering lights, broken bulbs/fixtures, lights on during the day). Note: is only allowed to fix certain types of streetlights.
  2. Safety Concerns – for problems with our facilities such as poles, wires, transformers, etc.

You can report an incident by filling out and submitting an online form, which is available on Meralco Online or the Meralco Mobile App. Simply log in to your account and go to the Outages & Incidents section. Alternatively, you can visit our website at www.meralco.com.ph and access the online report form as a guest. For a step-by-step guide, please refer to the instructions below.

  1. Via Meralco Online
    1. Log in to Meralco Online.
    2. Click on “Outages & Incidents”
    3. Select “Report Streetlight and Safety Concerns”
    4. Select your concern type: either “Streetlight Concern” or “Safety Concern”
    5. Select the appropriate answers to the questions that will appear based on your concern type
    6. Optional: Upload up to 5 photos of your concern. Each file must be in PDF, PNG, JPG or BMP format and must not exceed 5MB.
    7. Specify the location of your concern by:
      1. Entering an address
      2. Entering a pole number (only for streetlight concerns)
    8. Provide landmarks or directions to help us find your location faster OR
    9. Pin the location of your reported concern on the map
    10. Enter the details of the contact person for your report. Fields are pre-populated with your registered details, but these can be edited.
    11. Specify how you want to receive notifications related to your report by selecting either the “Email” and/or “SMS” button
    12. Click the “Submit” button
    13. You will be directed to a confirmation page, acknowledging receipt of your report. You will also receive an acknowledgment via SMS and/or email, depending on your preferred channel.

  2. Via Meralco Mobile App
    1. Log in to Meralco Mobile App
    2. Tap the menu icon found on the upper left-hand corner of the Overview page.
    3. Click on “Outages & Incidents”
    4. Select “Report Streetlight and Safety Concerns”
    5. Select your concern type either “Streetlight Concern” or “Safety Concern”
    6. Select the appropriate answers to the questions that will appear based on your concern type
    7. Optional: Upload up to 5 photos of your concern. Each file must be in PDF, PNG, JPG or BMP format and must not exceed 5MB.
    8. Specify the location of your concern by:
      1. Entering an address
      2. Entering a pole number (only for streetlight concerns
    9. Provide landmarks or directions to help us find your location faster OR
    10. Pin the location of your reported concern on the map
    11. Enter the details of the contact person for your report. Fields are pre-populated with your registered details, but these can be edited.
    12. Specify how you want to receive notifications related to your report by selecting either the “Email” and/or “SMS” button.
    13. Click the “Submit” button.
    14. You will be directed to a confirmation page, acknowledging receipt of your report. You will also receive an acknowledgment via SMS and/or email, depending on your preferred channel.

  3. Via Meralco Website (as a Guest User) Log in to Meralco Online.
    1. Visit www.meralco.com.ph.
    2. Click on Meralco Online Beta in the upper right-hand corner of the homepage
    3. Select “Report Streetlight and Safety Concerns” under “I want to:” 
    4. Select your concern type: either “Streetlight Concern” or “Safety Concern”
    5. Select the appropriate answers to the questions that will appear based on your concern type
    6. Optional: Upload up to 5 photos of your concern. Each file must be in PDF, PNG, JPG or BMP format and must not exceed 5MB.
    7. Specify the location of your concern by:
      1. Entering an address
      2. Entering a pole number (only for streetlight concerns)
    8. Provide landmarks or directions to help us find your location faster OR
    9. Pin the location of your reported concern on the map
    10. Enter the details of the contact person for your report. Fields are pre-populated with your registered details, but these can be edited.
    11. Specify how you want to receive notifications related to your report by selecting either the “Email” and/or “SMS” button
    12. Read and agree to the Meralco Online Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy by ticking the box.
    13. Click the “Submit” button
    14. You will be directed to a confirmation page, acknowledging receipt of your report. You will also receive an acknowledgment via SMS and/or email, depending on your preferred channel.

Streetlights that are covered by Meralco are commonly installed on Meralco poles. These are owned, operated, and maintained by us. 

Other streetlights are owned, operated, and maintained by the barangay, city, municipality, government, homeowners’ association, or even estate developer/manager. Thus, these streetlights are not covered by Meralco, and the repair and maintenance of these streetlights is the responsibility of the said groups.

Since we do not own, operate and maintain metered streetlights, the repair and maintenance for these is the responsibility of either the barangay, city, municipality, government, homeowners’ association (HOA), or estate developer/manager who owns them

Streetlights that are attached to Meralco poles are generally covered by us. You can differentiate a Meralco pole through its prominent Meralco sticker and the pole tag attached to it.

If there is a dedicated pole that does not have this sticker, it is probably owned by your barangay or city/municipal government.

There are several types of safety concerns but the more commonly reported ones are as follows:

  1. Pole is broken – the Meralco pole is either damaged or is dangerously leaning
  2. Pole has fallen - the Meralco pole is lying on the ground
  3. Wire is sparking – the Meralco wire is producing flashes of light accompanied by a sharp cracking noise
  4. Wire has fallen –  the Meralco wire is lying on the ground
  5. Wire is loose, damaged or detached –there is either damages to the wire or the wire is disconnected from the Meralco pole
  6. Something blew up – there was an explosion near a Meralco facility (e.g. wires or equipment attached to the Meralco pole) which may result in a brownout
  7. Pole obstructing - a Meralco pole lying on the ground, blocking the road
  8. Wire obstructing – a Meralco wire is lying on the ground, blocking the road