FOR the second straight day, millions of people in Metro Manila (National Capital Region) and nearby provinces endured blackouts as electricity supply in Luzon remaineed tight two days after Typhoon Glenda toppled electric posts and damaged transmission lines.
The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) started implementing on Thursday three-hour rotating brownouts in the region and in Bulacan province because of the insufficient supply.
The power distribution company, however, said power will be fully restored in Metro Manila at 10 p.m. today.
Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla said the Luzon grid, which supplies power to NCR and several provinces, has not been fully restored.
As of Thursday, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) was yet to restore 55 percent of the grid’s capacity.
Petilla confirmed that the electricity situation in Metro Manila will be back to normal by tonight.
”Manila will be a hundred percent tomorrow, it’s about a hundred percent. There may be isolated areas that will be longer. But for the most part, Meralco can confirm that it’s about a hundred percent,” he said.
Meralco said as of Thursday morning, 1.9 million households in Metro Manila were without power since only 84 percent of its franchise area had electricity.
But the power situation in the provinces of Batangas and Cavite and in Bicol Region was worse.
Petilla said 97 percent of consumers in Batangas were without electricity, 66 percent in Cavite and 66 percent in Laguna. The Energy chief was optimistic that 96 percent of the power supply in Cavite will be restored by 10 p.m. today.
Rolly Cagampan, head of Meralco’s Energy Sourcing Office, said the company started implementing three-hour rotating brownouts at 7:30 a.m. in Manila, Makati, Quezon and Pasay cities in NCR and in Bulacan province.
He added that the rotation will continue until power generation and transmission have stabilized.
“If our plants will be back online, we will stop the rotating brownouts,” Cagampan told reporters during a briefing in Quezon City.
The Ilijan power plant, he said, was expected to go online at 4 p.m. on Thursday. The Quezon Power Limited is expected to join the grid this morning, while the Pagbilao Power Station and the Calaca power plant are expected to go online within 24 hours.
Meralco spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga said 99.98 percent of Meralco’s franchise area in Quezon province had no power supply.
NGCP spokesperson Cynthia Alabanza said power has been restored for about half of consumers in Luzon.
Typhoon Glenda cut electricity supplies to nearly all of Manila, a megacity of more than 12 million people, and surrounding urban areas.
The stock exchange and government offices reopened on Thursday but many schools remained closed partly because of the power problems.
With AFP and PNA