City lacks power for the elections?

CEBU, Philippines - The Visayan Electric Company yesterday admitted that the city may lack the needed power for the May 10 elections.

Representatives from VECO and the Department of Energy appeared before the city council during its regular session to discuss and present their contingency plans with regards to the stability and condition of power supply during and after the election.

VECO representative, Noel Modesto, admitted that the city alone is short of 39 megawatts to meet the needed 112 megawatts, based on the highest demand registered during holidays, to operate and supply the polling centers in the city.

Councilor Gerardo Carillo asked that the exact figure of power supply needed during the elections should be made available for them to be able to make the necessary preparations.

DOE regional director Antonio Labios projected that they have 276 megawatts which he said would be enough power for the entire province and to other areas such as Negros.

“We can also find other sources in Leyte if there are any shortages,” he said.

A 63-megawatt component is also guaranteed to be reserved from the Cebu Private Power Corporation (CPPC) in Toledo City and another 10 megawatts from the East Asia Utility Corporation to be provided.

Regional Disaster Coordinating Council representative Paul Hubahib said that in case a power shortage is experienced during the election day, they have generator sets available to supply the polling areas. A question is raised however whether it will be enough for the more than 200 poll sites in the city.

Regarding the security of these power sources and generator sets, he said that they already coordinated with AFP, PNP and COMELEC to assure that there will be no assaults that could interrupt the elections.

Rey Maleza, supervisor for DOE Visayas, also said that “the supply is only sufficient to the demand but still there is no supply enough; if there will be an interruption in the grid, not only Cebu will suffer but also Negros-Panay.”

He said that all power plants will be operational in full-blast to suffice what is needed.

“There will also be a matter of sacrifice from the consumers not to use the electricity from VECO and just use their own generators,” he added.   (FREEMAN NEWS)