Meralco warns of power outages due to high demand

MANILA, Philippines - Power utility Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) warned yesterday that the continuing increase in electricity demand could lead to unavoidable power outages.

Despite this warning, however, Meralco said it is committed to provide uninterrupted power supply this summer season.

Meralco energy management head Nixon Hao said the isolated brownouts may be brought by system overload and breakdowns.

“Although Meralco regularly upgrades and maintains its facilities so these operate in the best condition, there may be instances when some areas within the Meralco franchise may experience some power interruptions caused by circumstances beyond its control,” Hao said.

During the Holy Week, Meralco reported that power supply was steady except  for minor and localized power outages in some areas particularly in Grace Park in Caloocan City; some parts of Malabon, Pasay, San Juan and Sta. Mesa; Tondo, Sampaloc and Pandacan in Manila.

These short duration power interruptions were brought about by automatic load dropping (ALD) situations wherein Meralco loads at chosen areas are shed automatically for the system to cope with the sudden outage of a power plant.

ALDs are designed to operate in order to stabilize the system during unforeseen outages of power plants.

Meralco further explained that the occurrence of ALDs are prevalent when the power reserve is relatively low so that the outage of a single plant would tilt the desired balance of supply and demand.

With the increased demand for electricity brought by the summer season, plus the maintenance outages of some power plants, it is unavoidable that the system would experience automatic load dropping.

“During the summer months, consumption levels of our customers increase. Cooling appliances like air-conditioners, refrigerators, freezers, electric fans and water pumps would be in great demand to fend off the heat. Vacationing students would be staying at home and can be expected to use more electricity at home, spending their free time with entertainment appliances like television sets, video game consoles and computers,” Meralco external communications manager Joe Zaldarriaga said.

He reiterated his call for Meralco customers to conserve and use electricity wisely to further lower their consumption and thus avoid system overloading.

Electricity conservation measures include the proper cleaning and maintenance of appliances so that these may work more efficiently, the use of compact fluorescent lights, the systematic planning and usage of flat irons, air-conditioners and refrigerators.

Meralco also said consumers should monitor and check their electricity usage through the Meralco Appliance Calculator (MAC) at the Meralco website (www.meralco.com.ph) and at leading appliance stores.

The MAC is a computer-aided program which computes the consumption amount of common household appliances. Customers are encouraged to visit the website for electricity saving tips and get in touch with the Meralco Call Center hotline at 16211.