Electricity back in Eastern Visayas but some towns still have no power

TACLOBAN CITY –– The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) has “energized” all the 36 substations across Eastern Visayas, which were affected by Typhoon “Ursula” on the eve of Christmas Day.

Milfrance Capulong, NGCP communications officer, said the restoration was completed on Dec. 30 after Ursula pummeled the region.

But there are towns in the region that remain without power, mostly in Samar and Eastern Samar provinces.

Among these areas are Llorente and Hernani, both in Eastern Samar, and Basey in Samar.

Capulong said the NGCP has energized these areas and it’s now up to the local power distributors to supply power to the households.

“These areas may still have some problems to fix like toppled structures—the reason they remain without power supply,” she said.

Capulong, however, said she could not yet give figures as to how many power poles were affected by the strong winds and heavy rains spawned by Ursula.

“We are still in the process of updating but several structures were toppled down or leaned due to the onslaught of Ursula,” she said.

The restoration of power in these areas may be hastened with the help of eight power cooperatives from Mindanao.

About 55 linemen from eight power cooperatives from Mindanao also arrived in the region on Dec. 27 to fix power structures in Samar and Eastern Samar.

These cooperatives were from Agusan Del Norte Electric Cooperative, Agusan Del Sur Electric Cooperative, Northern Davao Electric Cooperative, Surigao Del Norte Electric Cooperative, Surigao Del Sur I Electric Cooperative, Surigao Del Sur II Electric Cooperative, Siargao Electric Cooperative, and Dinagat Island Electric Cooperative.

These linemen are working alongside linemen from the NGCP, Capulong said./lzb