Meralco reports stable power in franchise areas

MANILA, Philippines - The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) yesterday reported that the power situation in their franchise areas was relatively stable and all prior power interruptions in some polling precincts have already been resolved at yesterday’s first nationwide automated elections.

Meralco said a few outages have been reported throughout the day but these were readily resolved. Several of them were isolated cases.

“We are currently on full alert and we have ready contingency measures to address power outages that might occur during the implementation of the national elections. We are already in full control of the situation and we are doing our best to provide stable and dependable power. We also have generator sets on standby, which can be used in case of power outages at polling and canvassing centers within our franchise area,” Meralco External Communication manager Joe Zaldarriaga told The STAR.

“At 1:40 p.m. yesterday, Kalayaan-Caliraya 115kV line tripped.This line was re-closed at 1:44 p.m., but tripped again at 1:54 p.m.Because of alternate feeds, though, that made flow of power to affected areas possible, electricity in one canvassing and 71 polling centers had been completely restored at 1:57 p.m.,” Meralco said in a statement.

In another isolated case, Tagapo Elementary School (polling center) in Sta. Rosa, Laguna was affected by a busted 100A main circuit breaker of the school at 1:17 p.m. The trouble was resolved when the circuit breaker was replaced at 3:20 p.m. by Meralco’s Sta. Rosa sector crew.

Meralco also said nine polling precincts in San Mateo, Rizal were affected due to line trouble, particularly Duraville II Homes Multi-purpose Hall, Charieville Multi-purpose Hall, Bancom Chapel, PBMA Chapter, Ampid Elementary School, Banaba Day Care, Greenland Clubhouse, Sta. Maria Phase V Basketball Court and Gulod Malaya Primary School.

As of 11:40 p.m. yesterday, Meralco reported that electricity in these areas had already been restored.

There were also outages in some areas in Hagonoy and Paombong in Bulacan and San Mateo in Rizal.

There were six polling areas in Hagonoy and Paombong which were without power due to line trouble. The polling centers were in Masukol, Sta. Cruz, Binakod, Lantad, Pugad and Tibaguin elementary schools. Electricity was restored by 7:30 a.m.

Meralco also encouraged its customers to help Meralco by reporting polling precinct/area outages by calling its Call Center at 632-8118 or by texting 0908-880-8576 or 0917-8476908.

Efforts paying off

Energy Secretary Jose Ibazeta said the power situation in the country was generally stable.

“I would like to say that we made all the preparations in anticipation of the requirements for the elections. Meaning, all efforts to maintain the plants ahead of time for the elections are paying off. All the plants are working and we have reserve power. In fact, we’re even exporting power from Luzon to the Visayas and Mindanao is even on white alert. It’s good it rained a bit in Mindanao, and it helped. Though there are some areas that encountered problems, but as of now, it seems everything is okay,” Ibazeta said.

He said they expected to keep the stable power supply for the rest of the day.

Ibazeta, however, admitted that they are still keeping a close eye on the Mindanao power situation.

“There is no problem in Luzon and Visayas, but Mindanao is really tight. But since it rained a bit, we’re maintaining it,” he said.

He also acknowledged the presence of isolated power problems in some areas within Meralco’s franchise areas, saying those were unavoidable.

“In fact, they have restored power in the affected areas,” he said.

He said they continue to solicit the cooperation of all the agencies to be able to maintain the reliability of the power supply at this critical period.

“It’s total cooperation among all agencies and related parties –Meralco, National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), distribution utilities, National Electrification Administration – in monitoring the system,” he said.

NGCP senior adviser to the president Jesusito Sulit, on the other hand, said the country’s grid had enough power reserves at least for the next three days.

“We are hoping that we will have the same level of reserves, at least for Luzon and Visayas, until May 11 if not until May 12. In Luzon and Visayas, there were no problems maintaining the sufficient levels of reserves,” he said.

Ibazeta, on the other hand, said if needed, they would still extend the implementation of all the contingency measures in Mindanao up to May 14.

“In Mindanao, I think the system can stand up to May 14,” he said.

Sulit said in cases where Visayas would need additional power, it could easily draw power from Luzon.

“All the deficiencies of the Visayas grid could be imported from the Luzon grid. So there is no problem, so far, maintaining the level of reserves in these two grids,” he said.

For May 10, the power reserve for the entire grid was at 3,000 megawatts with capacity at 8,000 MW and demand at 5,000 MW.

Meanwhile, the NGCP reported that there has been no power outage in Mindanao during yesterday’s general elections in spite of the reported extreme shortage in the island’s power generation efficiency.

NGCP said there was even a surplus reserve of more than 385 megawatts yesterday instead of a shortage.   – With Edith Regalado