13-hour blackout in Samar Island, parts of Leyte due to wires transfer

TACLOBAN CITY — A 13-hour blackout hit the entire Samar Island and parts of Leyte on Saturday due to the scheduled transfer of emergency wires to the permanent towers cited by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).

The widespread brownout started at 5 a.m. and was expected to end at 6 p.m. as scheduled by the NGCP.

Affected areas included those serviced by the Northern Samar Electric Cooperative, Samar Electric Cooperative I and II, Eastern Samar Electric Cooperative and Leyte II Electric Cooperative, which serves, among other areas, Tacloban City, the regional capital for Eastern Samar.

Betty Martinez, spokesperson of NGCP-Visayas, said that power interruption was due to the transfer of wires from the emergency restoration system structures to permanent towers on Tower 13 located along the line 138 kV Ormoc-Babatngon line, both in Leyte and Tower 40 which is along the 138 KV Babatngon (Leyte)-Paranas (Samar).

“The wires of the emergency restoration system are basically used during an emergency and these are only temporary. That is why, we have to remove and transfer them to permanent towers or structures,” Martinez said in a phone interview.

She added that their maintenance crew took advantage of the power interruption by conducting their own maintenance works.

It was not yet known immediately as to how many consumers were affected by the power outage.

But in Leyeco II alone, considered the biggest in terms of membership, more than 54,000 consumers were affected by the power 14 hour interruptions. JE

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