CEBU CITY, Philippines — The number of participants from Metro Cebu joining the global lights-off movement Earth Hour in 2025 has increased.
Data from the Visayan Electric Company (Veco) recorded a load drop of 1.91 megawatt (MW) across multiple sectors, from residential to commercial, during Earth Hour last March 22.
It was a slight increase compared to the 1.23 MW posted in the previous year’s activity. In other words, more joined in the worldwide movement of switching off their lights for an hour in this year.
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“The perception is when there’s an increase in load drop, many are not using electricity,” said Quennie Sanchez-Bronce, Veco’s head of Reputation Enhancement Department.
Between 2019 and 2023, the load drop during Earth Hour barely did not even reach 1MW. For reference, 1MW can power around 1,000 single-storey houses.
Then in 2024, the load drop started picking up after Veco recorded 1.23MW of power saved during Earth Hour that year.
Organized by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Earth Hour is a global lights-off movement to spread awareness about the environment. Here in the Philippines, the event usually runs from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Bronce said they welcomed that more decided to join the Earth Hour this 2025.
“This is a positive improvement from the Earth Hour numbers since 2020. We hope to see more people participate in future Earth Hours and we hope people will really practice energy conservation even beyond Earth Hour,” she added.
