Iloilo power providers set maintenance outages

INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

ILOILO CITY, Iloilo, Philippines — This city was expected to experience a four-hour power outage on Tuesday as part of a maintenance shutdown to ensure that there would be no energy interruption when the city celebrates its famous Dinagyang Festival on Sunday.

The power outage, set from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. on Jan. 23 when most households are asleep and when the majority of businesses and offices are closed, would be a corrective maintenance activity at customer-owned Global Business Power Corp.-Meralco PowerGen Corp.’s (GBP MGEN) La Paz 1 substation, which is needed to ensure a reliable power supply in the city during the festival, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines said on Monday.

Affected were power consumers under the MORE Electric and Power Corp.’s (MORE Power) Molo Mobile substation and Megaworld substation; GBP MGEN’s Panay Power Corp. 1 and Banuyao; and Iloilo Electric Cooperative Inc. 1’s substation in Pavia.

Last Sunday, MORE Power also implemented a six-hour power interruption in the city as part of its Dinagyang contingency plan starting at 6 a.m.

Affected were portions of Megaworld Feeder 4 in Ungka, Jaro District, where MORE Power removed a 40-footer wood pole and transferred the 1-50 kilovolt-ampere distribution transformer to a new 50-footer concrete pole.

The Inquirer tried but failed to get the reaction of Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas on Monday. Last week, Treñas and business leaders in Iloilo expressed dismay over the power crisis on Panay Island due to unresolved issues in major power plants supplying electricity to the island.

—RUCHELLE DENICE DEMAISIP