Toppled billboards cause blackouts

The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is blaming huge billboards, especially those along the South Luzon Expressway, and untrimmed trees for the massive power interruptions within its franchise area during the height of Typhoon "Caloy" yesterday.

Meralco vice president for corporate communication Elpi Cuna Jr. said that since late Friday night, numerous power interruptions spawned by Caloy’s strong winds have occurred in Meralco’s coverage area.

"The multiple power outages started around past midnight (Friday) and affected most of Meralco’s southern franchise area," he said.

Cuna also confirmed their previous findings that pointed to toppled billboards and untrimmed tree branches as the causes of the multiple power outages.

He said Meralco had already dispatched its emergency crews to immediately restore power to affected areas.

As of 3 p.m. yesterday, Cuna said a total of 11.82 percent of its total number of circuits, most of them leading to Metro Manila households, remained without electricity.

He said Meralco would seek the government’s help in trying to prevent future power interruptions.

"We would like to remind our customers to request tree trimming support from Meralco since we identified this as a major cause of the (circuit) trippings in the Meralco franchise area," Cuna said.

He added that Meralco will also coordinate with the local government units to help them regulate the issuance of permits for billboards near the electricity distribution firm’s power lines.

Cuna said there are instances in which Meralco may be unable to answer all customer complaints immediately due to the huge number of calls from its customers.

He advised the public to tune in to public service radio stations to which Meralco’s call center provides regular updates.

Cuna assured its customers that Meralco is doing everything possible to restore electricity to affected areas by Saturday evening, "barring any unforeseen problems."

Aside from areas in South Luzon, power interruptions were also reported in Manila and Quezon City.