Prolonged power interruptions in Metro Manila feared

Mindanao is now suffering from prolonged and rotating brownouts with power outages lasting up to 10 hours. Brownouts have been reported in General Santos, Zamboanga, Iligan, Dipolog, and Ozamiz cities and in Cotabato province.

The power crisis, forewarned to occur by 2006, is already happening now. It is feared that long power interruptions may start to occur in Luzon and Metro Manila earlier than 2006.

Several groups and energy experts had warned of the impending return of a power crisis in the country as they frowned on government’s failure to prepare for the inevitable —— increased power demand.

National Power Corp. (Napocor) vice-president for Mindanao Generation Pasayud Macarambon said the Agus IV power plant, which has a capacity of 158 megawatts, has been shut down since May 17 for a 66-day maintenance schedule.

In Maco, Davao del Norte, Unit 2 of Power Barge 118 has also stopped operations due to a malfunction in its turbo charger.

The closure of the two plants has resulted in insufficient supply in the Mindanao grid with Dipolog City as one of the hardest hit. Residents there have complained of brownouts lasting 10 hours. Rotating three-to four-hour outages have also been scheduled in South Cotabato for the next two months, reports say.

Meanwhile, distribution utilities in Davao City and Cagayan de Oro have been relying on their own affiliated independent power producers (IPPs) to assure the continuity of electricity supply.

The Davao Light and Power Co. has been running its Bajada Power Plant for 12 hours straight, while Cepalco has been extensively utilizing its own IPP to meet power demand in the area.

Government seems unprepared even as it called for power conservation among industrial and private electricity consumers.

Macarambon has urged customers to cooperate and comply with their contracted obligations to minimize load curtailments.