Meralco: Scheduled blackouts will continue
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 10/09/2009 12:09 PM
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MANILA - A number of residents here will continue to bear with scheduled power interruptions even as Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) finished the repair of 3 of its substations.
According to Meralco External Communications Manager Joe Zaldarriaga, the series of 3- to 4-hour rotating blackouts will continue despite the restoration of power supply in the Hillcrest, Mandaluyong, and SM-Shangri-La substations.
This, he said, is primarily due to the damaged transformer bank of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) in Taytay, Rizal.
"The series of rotating (blackouts) will continue because the damaged transformer bank of the Dolores substation owned and operated by the NGCP remains out of services. There will (still) be 3 to 4 hours of rotating power interruption in affected areas," Zaldarriaga said in an interview at "Mornings at ANC."
In an advisory released Friday, Meralco said a rotational blackout of 4 hours will be implemented twice today, affecting portions of Marikina, Pasig, Quezon City, and Rizal areas due to the outage of NGCP's Dolores 300MVA transformers.
On top of this, Meralco said a pre-arranged power interruption "due to maintenance work" is also scheduled between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., affecting portions of barangays Bucal, Concepcion, Mahabang-Parang, Pallocan West, and Gulod Labac in Batangas City.
On Thursday evening, 3 of Meralco's substations tripped "due to critical loading and in its attempt to shift load" after a transformer of the Dolores substation caught fire, causing a cut in power supply.
Zaldarriaga said repairs were already made on the said substations on Friday morning, and power is already restored in affected areas.
Still can't tell
Zaldarriaga said it is "very difficult to say" as to whether rotating power interruptions will continue until next week. According to him, this would largely depend on the NGCP as they are the ones tasked to repair the damaged transformer in the Dolores substation.
Still, Zaldarriaga stressed that Meralco "is ready to provide help to NGCP to find a way to repair or restore power to the Dolores substation."
"We're doing everything possible to manage the situation. At the end of the day, we're hoping that NGCP-Dolores substation would be repaired," he said.
In the meantime, Zaldarriaga advised consumers to call Meralco's customer service hotline (16211) to inquire about the schedule of rotating blackouts for the day.
"The schedule can come out as early as 8 a.m., or even before that. (This would be helpful) for households who would like to plan ahead," he said.
On top of this, Zaldarriaga said Meralco may eventually post tentative schedules of power interruptions through their website, adding that they may even create a Twitter account to provide real-time information on the said rotating blackouts.
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