Power saving for May polls causes long brownouts in Mindanao

Long brownouts in Mindanao since early March are a result of the state-owned electricity generator's efforts to conserve power for the midterm elections, an official said on Friday.

Omar Pacilan, spokesman for the National Power Corporation-Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (NPC-PSALM) said the mandate to ensure enough supply of power for May 2013 came from the Commission on Elections.

Pacilan said in a radio interview that electricity distribution among electric cooperatives and other power firms including the Cotabato Electric Cooperative (Cotelco) has been reduced.

Cotelco serves at least 98,000 consumers in North Cotabato.

Cotelco spokesperson Vicente Baguio said since March, the Cotelco was told to maintain at least 9 megawatts daily, “way,way below” the power needed to supply the cooperative's entire coverage area.

Baguio added that the demand for power in North Cotabato reaches 28-32 MW during peak hours.

“This is the reason why we, in North Cotabato, are again experiencing long brownouts daily,” he said.

Pacilan said the total daily power demand for Mindanao ranges from 1,150 MW to 1,200 MW but the recent order pegged the generation capacity of the power plants to 940 MW to 950 MW.

He added that the NPC-PSALM is drawing water from Lake Lanao for the Agus hydro-electric power plants meant to decrease power generation for the Mindanao grid by about 140-160 MW.