Three-hour rotating blackouts implemented

MANILA, Philippines - Power restoration in areas hardest hit by Typhoon Glenda such as Quezon, Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte, Albay, Sorsogon and Bicol could take up to two weeks to complete due to the extent of damage, Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla said yesterday.

Petilla made the announcement as the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) implemented up to three-hour rotating blackouts yesterday due to insufficient supply.

“In two weeks, power will be restored. We will have a better estimate once reports come in,” Petilla said, adding that restoration of electricity in typhoon-hit areas depends largely on how fast the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) can restore its 69-kilovolt lines.

Power has been restored in 64 percent of Meralco’s franchise area but some customers again experienced outages as the power utility implemented the so-called manual load dropping (MLD) starting at 7:30 a.m. yesterday, resulting in up to three-hour rotating blackouts because of the unavailability of some power plants. MLD is when power supply is rationed because it is limited.

“We have around 1.88 million customers still without power,” Meralco senior vice president and head of customer retail services Al Panlilio said yesterday.

“A three-hour emergency manual load dropping or rotating blackout was implemented due to the inability of plants in the south area to generate because of transmission outages. Affected areas are portions of Manila, Makati, Quezon City, Bulacan and Pasay,” Meralco said in a separate advisory.

Some of the power plants were affected by the typhoon as well but were expected to be online again by yesterday afternoon and today.

The 1,200-MW Ilijan natural gas plant in Batangas was expected to be back online yesterday afternoon.

The 460-MW Quezon Power plant, meanwhile, is expected to be back today while the 1,500-MW Sta. Rita and San Lorenzo natural gas plants, also in Batangas, are expected back by Saturday.

Meralco is eyeing to restore power in 96 percent of its franchise area by 10 p.m. today, with the balance accounting for isolated cases.

“Parts of Batangas, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Metro Manila, Pampanga, Quezon and Rizal are still being restored. As of now, we do not have an estimated time of restoration yet but all efforts will be exerted to get power back into your homes as soon as possible. We ask for your patience and understanding during this time,” Meralco said.

LGU help needed

Valenzuela Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian said yesterday the restoration of electricity in areas ravaged by Glenda can be faster if Meralco and NGCP will enlist the support of local government units (LGUs).

“I urge the governors and mayors of Southern Luzon to take the initiative of talking to Meralco and the NGCP and ask the two power entities what help they can give to make faster the restoration of electricity in their areas,” the lawmaker said.

He said LGUs have their own heavy equipment and personnel that can help Meralco and NGCP in fixing toppled transmission lines in their areas and this will facilitate the restoration of electricity sooner.

Mobile services restored

Dominant carrier Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and Ayala-led Globe Telecom Inc. yesterday reported that mobile network service coverage in Metro Manila and other areas pummeled by Glenda has been restored.

PLDT spokesman Ramon Isberto said Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) and Sun Cellular have fully restored mobile network service coverage in Metro Manila as of yesterday morning.

However, Isberto said subscribers may experience some level of degradation of voice and mobile Internet services in certain areas in the National Capital Region as network optimization activities are still ongoing.

He added that Central and Northern Luzon services for both Smart and Sun were largely unaffected.

Meanwhile, about 80 percent of mobile network service coverage in Southern Luzon and the Bicol region affected by the typhoon has been restored, while the remaining 20 percent are still experiencing service disruption due to prolonged commercial power outage and transmission interruptions caused by fiber cuts and misaligned microwave radios.

Likewise, about 81 percent of the PLDT Group’s fixed line network facilities have been restored with the completion of the repair of damaged facilities as well as the restoration of commercial power.

“Our engineers have been working round the clock to ensure continuity of services. Because of our continuing efforts to improve network resiliency, we were able to quickly provide mobile phone umbrella coverage to many of the affected areas to compensate for the temporary loss of some of our cell sites,” Isberto said.

“We have also quickly restored links to hard-hit provinces like Sorsogon and Catanduanes. To support our restoration efforts in these areas, we deployed Smart Satellite Services units beforehand to speed up communications among our teams,” he added.

Full normalization of services will, however, depend on the restoration of commercial power in the affected areas, Isberto said.

The PLDT official asked for the cooperation of the public in speeding up restoration of communications services.

“We are requesting the public to be careful in clearing fallen trees and posts. Many of the fiber cuts affecting transmission facilities for both fixed and wireless were caused by accidental cutting of cables as fallen trees and other debris are removed after a typhoon,” Isberto said.

Globe senior vice president Yoly Crisanto said mobile services are now up in areas that experienced service disruption last Wednesday due to strong winds brought by Glenda. – With Paolo Romero, Non Alquitran, Charlie Lagasca, Lawrence Agcaoili, Raymund Catindig, Eva Visperas