Abra braces for total blackout

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet, Philippines – Abra will experience a total blackout again starting Monday noon after its power supplier, Aboitiz Power Renewables Inc. (APRI), terminated its amended Power Supply Agreement (PSA) with Abra Electric Cooperative (Abreco). 

APRI handed out its termination notice to Abreco on Nov. 4, citing the cooperative’s failure to settle its payments and fulfill its commitments. 

Abreco, for its part, urged the National Electrification Administration and the Department of Energy to intercede in behalf of their customers.

“We will pay…we could pay it in tranches or on a graduated basis,” Abreco general manager Loreto Seares Jr. said.

Seares said their power lines suffered heavy damage amounting to more than P16 million due to Typhoons Luis and Mario. He said at least 24 kilometers of power lines were damaged, 150 electric poles felled, and equipment such as transformers, kilowatt-hour meters, conductors, insulators and line devices destroyed.  

Seares said the replacements came from suppliers who collected on a cash basis, depleting Abreco’s finances.

“It was a decision we had to make in the name of the cooperative’s 30,000 consumers to have power after the twin typhoons,” he said.

Blackouts swept Abra in 2012 and 2013 after APRI cut off supply also due to unpaid bills. 

Seares said they are exploring all possible options to prevent a blackout in the province’s 303 barangays.