Most of the electricity in the Philippines is 220 volts on a frequency of 60 Hz, yet there are several areas where the electricity is 110 volts so make sure you ask what the voltage is before you plug in any of your devices. I had a house in Santa Mesa that used both 220 and 110 volts! You had to know which wall socket was 110 volts and which wall socket was 220 volts. It turns out that the builder's intention was to have people use the 220 wall sockets for their appliances such as the refrigerator and washing machine and plug everything else into the 110 volt wall sockets.

The plug arrangement in the Philippines is is the same as in America with 2 flat pins. Sometimes the pins are polarized (one pin is slightly thicker than the other) and other times they are not. I've also seen wall sockets intended for some air conditioners that have their pins turned sideways. From time to time I have even seen a few round sockets like they have in Korea and in Europe. A lot of sockets are not grounded and don't even have a slot for the ground; so if you have a plug that has a ground and this happens to you, you'll need to buy an adapter for it. The ground won't be functional but at least you'll be able to plug it into the wall socket. You can buy adapters at a hardware store in a mall and even throughout many smaller hardware stores scattered around the towns.

Meralco is the primary electricity distributor in the Philippines so you will want to contact them to get your electricity connected. It is also not uncommon for the owner to connect the electricity for you in their name and allow you to pay the electric bill to Meralco directly or through a payment center. You can pay your Meralco electric bill at any SM Department Store located in any SM Mall.

One last thing to mention is that Filipinos call blackouts (period of time when electricity is not available) brownouts and they are common even in Manila.