FREE CHARGING Iloilo City residents are taking advantage of one of the few electric outlets available at the local SM Mall to charge their cell phones for free on Friday following nearly four days of power outage across Panay, the second time this happened on the island in less than a year. —ARNOLD ALMACEN/ILOILO CITY MAYOR’S OFFICE
ILOILO CITY — Power was restored on Panay Island on Friday, three days after a major blackout isolated its provinces from the rest of the Visayas grid.
The widespread power interruption inconvenienced at least 4.5 million people in Iloilo, Antique, Aklan and Capiz provinces, in Panay and Guimaras Island, and parts of Negros Island, and caused at least P1.5 billion in economic losses to Iloilo City alone.
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In an update posted at 1 p.m. Friday, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) announced that the Panay subgrid was able to provide more than the 300 megawatts needed to stabilize power supply after Palm Concepcion Power Corp. (PCPC) 7, with a capacity of 135 MW, was synchronized to the Panay subgrid at 1:33 a.m.
“As of this advisory, 369.5 MW is being served by Panay power plants, augmented by 35.7 MW from sources elsewhere in the Visayas for a total of 419.2 MW served loads,” its advisory read.
More Power and Electric Corp. (MORE Power), the power distributor in Iloilo City, confirmed that all its six substations had been restored following the stabilization of the grid system in Panay.
Aside from Iloilo, power was also back in Antique, Aklan and Capiz on Panay Island. Guimaras Island and parts of Negros, which were affected by the power outage, had yet to announce whether power had been restored fully.
All of Panay and Guimaras Islands as well as parts of Negros experienced a major blackout on Jan. 2, due to the tripping of several power plants.
‘Financial hemorrhage’
Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas described the three-day power outage as a “financial hemorrhage” that severely affected the city, the regional center of Western Visayas.
The city’s Local Economic Development and Investment Promotion (Ledip) reported that the city lost between P400 million and P500 million daily since the Jan. 2 blackout.
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Ledip officer Velma Jane Lao said establishments were compelled to increase expenditures on generator sets and fuel while machinery breakdowns and complaints of food spoilage in restaurants were prevalent.
Treñas, who earlier called on Congress to investigate the power outage, blamed the NGCP for its lack of measures to ensure the safety of their transmission lines.
Addressing supply
He appealed to the Office of the President, the Department of Energy and the Energy Regulatory Commission to intervene and hold the NGCP responsible for the power interruption. The NGCP, in a statement posted on its Facebook page, called for an industry-wide approach to resolve the persistent power supply issues on Panay Island, pointing out that its mandate was confined to transmission of power from producers to grid-connected areas and not in power generation.
It also stressed that prior to the Jan. 2 trip off, there was no transmission disturbance. It said the voltage situation was normal until several power plants “inexplicably tripped” at 2:19 a.m.
The NGCP also denied allegations that it had been remiss of its obligation in stabilizing the transmission system and stressed that it had been transparent in providing information to the public through various platforms, including social media.
Inconvenience
“Rather than using the NGCP as a scapegoat, we urge policymakers to be objective in their search for facts and not coddle certain sectors. This is not a time to push personal or political agendas but a time for honest-to-goodness solution finding,” it said.
The power outage in Iloilo City has angered residents as it disrupted not only their daily lives, but also their livelihood.
Ellen Carbon, 61, said the power outage deprived her grandchildren of sleep due to the unbearable heat.
Another resident, Vivian Castro, 63, said she became anxious as family members could not use an electricity-powered nebulizer for a sick sibling during the outage.
The patient, however, managed to survive even without the use of nebulizer but Castro’s family members had to sleep in the living room floor to ease their discomfort and get a little breeze.