MANILA, Philippines -- The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) said that as of Monday morning, only 27 of the 683 circuits in its entire franchise had no electricity as a precautionary measure in flooded areas.

As of 8 a.m. on Monday, 132,000 or three percent of the 4.6 million registered Meralco customers were without power supply.

Meralco external communications manager Joe Zaldarriaga reiterated that the "safety of residents remains to be the primary concern in restoring power to these affected areas."

"We would like to assure our customers, though, that virtually all of our field personnel have already been deployed and have been working round the clock to restore power in the most reasonable time possible," he added.

Zaldarriaga explained that even areas that were not flooded were cut off from power because the circuits supplying power to them were the same circuits servicing identified flooded areas.

"Our crews may have to do a thorough inspection of facilities in some households, too, that have experienced flooding earlier. Such may include meters and secondary lines, whose integrity and safe use have to be ensured first before power is restored to affected households," Zaldarriaga further explained.

He added that should customers have any difficulty getting through the Meralco hotline 16211, they could also text flood situations in their areas and other Meralco-related concerns over the following numbers: 09175592824 and 09209292824.

In a related development, Meralco said it has provided 26 generator sets and 50 floodlights in several evacuation centers in Metro Manila, particularly in Cainta, Pasig, Marikina, Taytay and other flood damaged cities and municipalities.

Aside from the gensets and floodlights, Meralco also provided thousands of relief bags in the affected areas as it mobilized its employees and personnel to assist the victims of Typhoon Ondoy.