Iriga City, 6 Camarines Sur towns without power for a week

NAGA CITY, Philippines—Some 100,000 residents of Iriga City and six towns in Camarines Sur have been without electricity for nearly a week now after the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines cut them off from the grid.

“The disconnection took effect Thursday noon after Camarines Sur Electric Cooperative (Casureco 3) failed to pay its P37 million debt due to its supplier San Miguel Electric Corp. on November 26,” said Fernando Turiano, Casurero 3 public information officer.

Turiano, in a phone interview Wednesday, said residents of Iriga City and the municipalities of Balatan, Buhi, Bula, Bato, Baao and Nabua, collectively known as the Rinconada Area, were now on their sixth day without power.

He said they were hoping for reconnection if Casureco officials could persuade National Electrification Administration officials to lend the cooperative P50 million.

Turiano said officials of NEA and Casureco met on Tuesday morning to deliberate on the terms offered by Casureco for repayment of the loan.

He said the P37 million debt was the “reconstructed amount” due after the cooperative racked up another P12 million on top of the P25 million originally due last month.

Turiano said Casureco had failed to pay its original debt, which was due last Thursday, after incurring additional expenses to replace a 5 MVA transformer substation that exploded in Iriga City, also last month.

Power supply was previously cut to Iriga City and the six Camarines Sur towns on October 1 but power was restored after local government leaders worked out a payment plan to help Casureco 3 collect power bills from residents and 10 business establishments who incurred  the biggest debt to the electric coop.