First Posted 07:23:00 10/07/20
If brownouts drag on till the Oct. 25 barangay polls, let’s be prepared and order lamps and flashlights, said an election official in Central Visayas.
Veronico Petalcorin, Commission on Elections Region 7 acting regional director, said he would meet with power utilities this week to see an assurance of steady power supply during Election Day.
Two-hour rotation brownouts continued its second day in Metro Cebu yesterday.
Petalcorin said if no assur ances can be given, he said he would have to ask for a bigger budget from the Comelec head office to buy emergency lamps and flashlights for the region’s 3,000 polling precincts or ask the help of local government units.
A transmission line problem on Tuesday triggered the shutdown of several power plants in Cebu, Negros Oriental and Leyte.
Yesterday’s power shortfall reached 300 megawatts (MW).
The Visayan Electric Company (Veco), which serves Metro Cebu, said several power plants in the Cebu Negros Panay (CNP) grid were still unable to deliver power due to technical problems.
"Veco has been advised by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) of a 300 MW power shortfall this morning.”
Veco suffered a shortfall of 180 MW as of 8:30 a.m. “This would mean a rotation power outage (brownout) of two hours per area," according to Veco.
When brownouts first struck on Tuesday, Petalcorin was in a meeting with other election officials in Cebu, officials of the police and the military to discuss preparation for the elections.
"I was alarmed by the situation," he said.
Petalcorin said he alerted the Comelec head office in the hope of getting a budget for the purchase or lease of emergency lamps or flashlights for the region’s precincts.
Petalcorin said they were also coordinating with local government units or barangays to see if they could provide the emergency lamps or flashlights.
He said elections officials just want to be prepared because troublemakers could take advantage of the darkness on election day.
Yesterday, the rotation brownouts started at 8 a.m.
The Visayas grid's shortage dropped to 250 MW in the early evening. Veco's net share of the shortage went down to 101 MW.
The Cebu Energy Development Corp. was not able to give any power supply to Veco, according to the statement sent through text message last night.
The CEDC unit 2 was expected to be back online midnight of Thursday.
The power supply may stabilize by Saturday when the Cebu Thermal Power Plant 2 (CTPP) in Naga town is back in operation, said Antonio Labios, Department of Energy Visayas (DOE) director.
The plant is still on preventive maintenance until Oct. 9.
The first unit of the CEDC plant was already feeding the system yesterday with 50 MW early yesterday afternoon. The second unit was expected to be online by midnight.
Geothermal plants in Tongonan, Leyte and in Palinpinon, Negros Oriental were still down.
The negative reserves of the Visayas grid was 250 MW to 295 MW in the evening.
Petalcorin said the Comelec would remind the members of the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) to prepare by bringing their own flashlights on election day.
"We are preparing for the best but we are also anticipating the worst," he added.
Cebu City Vice Mayor Joy Young, however, was optimistic private and government utilities would do their best to ensure a stable power supply on election day.
With elections almost three weeks away, there’s little time for local government units to buy emergency lamps, he said.
Young said BEI members usually go to the precincts prepared with candles and flashlights anyway, based on his observation of past exercises.
“Candles are cheaper and would suffice instead of buying emergency lamps that are not of good quality," Young said.
Some business leaders were also optimistic that the power supply would stabilize soon.
"Worst? Not really. We're hoping for the best," said Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Consul Samuel Chioson.
Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Eric Ng Mendoza said Cebu may even enjoy extra power soon and be able to sell the excess to Luzon when the third power plant of CEDC and Kepco-Salcon’s coal fired power plant in Naga start operating later this year.
CEDC's unit can produce 82 MW while Kepco-Salcon has a capacity of 200 MW.
Rey Calooy, president of the Filipino Cebuano Business Club, said he too was confident the power situation would not worsen.
"I am confident that this will not get worst, we have our own Energy Secretary Almendras who is on top of the situation. This administration is action-oriented. This is only very temporary, a man-made problem that can also be solved by a man," Calooy said.
Philippine Retailers Association Cebu Chapter president Melanie Ng said that while they were confident the brownouts would end, they still worry about its impact on operations.
"We are very concerned because it will create problems such as how we could still manage to put in place measures to make our customers comfortable when we have these problems," Ng said.
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