Residents in Samal island. File photo from BING GONZALES.
MANILA, Philippines — The Northern Davao Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Nordeco) intends to end the persistent power crisis gripping the Island Garden of Samal City residents by the end of May.
On Wednesday, Marilou Impuesto, Manager of Nordeco’s Institutional Service Department, talked about this target during the Senate energy committee’s hearing on electricity woes in several parts of the country.
Samal is currently in a state of calamity due to the continuing power mess plaguing the resort island.
“Hopefully, within the month, the power supply in Samal will already be stable,” Impuesto said in a mix of English and Filipino.
According to the National Electrification Administration, the prolonged blackouts in the city are due to an unmet power demand of 9 megawatts.
Currently, the available power in Samal is only at 6.1 megawatts after three generator sets malfunctioned – two of these are under Nordeco.
Nordeco has secured additional 2-megawatt generator sets, which will arrive by Friday.
Panel chair Senator Raffy Tulfo asked if this means Samal residents must endure the power outages until these generator sets are in place.
NEA Deputy Administrator Rossan Rosero Lee replied, “That is the necessary consequence.”
Impuesto explained the additional generator sets are only a temporary fix since Nordeco is also working on fixing its two faulty generator sets.
She also noted that the Pantukan – Samal Grid connectivity, seen as a long-term solution to Samal’s power woes, will be completed by June 30.
Tulfo then asked what would happen to Nordeco if it failed to deliver its end-of-May promise to solve the power crisis in Samal.
“We will be facing the consequence of this crisis in the Island Garden City of Samal, and we really apologize, especially to the affected member-consumer-owners of the Island Garden City of Samal for what had happened in the previous days,” Nordeco Corporate Planning Department Manager Jolly Ann Kuan said.
READ: Samal Island LGU, residents decry alleged failed services of power provider
Senators Risa Hontiveros, Sherwin Gatchalian, and Grace Poe urged Nordeco to heed Tulfo’s stern call for the power provider to shape up.
Gatchalian said member-consumer-owners cannot be blamed for backing the push for the Davao Light and Power Company, a subsidiary of Aboitiz Power, to “take over.”
“In case Davao Light applies again for a franchise, we will listen and thrash out what the performance of Nordeco is because this is a clamor coming from the ground,” Poe, head of the Senate public services committee, also noted.
READ: Samal’s tourism industry, locals’ daily lives get affected by brownouts