MANILA -- The Philippine Competition Commission said Monday it would look into allegations of collusion or abuse of dominance among power producers after recent supply shortfalls caused rotational brownouts in Luzon.

The antitrust monitor said it would "assess whether the recent power plants’ outages are manipulated to increase electricity prices or are valid unplanned breakdowns that affect supply conditions."

Under the competition law, power generation companies engaging in anti-competitive or collusive behavior are punishable with fines up P250 million and imprisonment of officers of up to 7 years, the PCC said.

The PCC also "welcomes" the call for an audit conducted by the Department of Energy of the power plants involved, it said.

• Meralco implements rotational brownouts due to low reserves