Wayward 'kwitis' kills power in Abra province

ABRA, Philippines – A kwitis rocket meant to brighten the skies and mark the new year turned out to be a disastrous and dark welcome for the coming year in Abra.
 
A blaze hit three industrial Automatic Voltage Regulators (AVR) and several feeders of the Abra Electric Cooperative’s (Abreco) main substation in Bangued Friday, cutting off power in the whole province up to this time.
 
A rocket reportedly hit a main line and started a 30-minute fire at a substation. The fire lit up the capital town like a fireworks display, residents said.
 
Abreco general manager Loreto Seares Jr. said had the 5MVA substation that supplies the whole of the province not been overloaded, the huge fire could have been avoided. 
 
The power cooperative had been asking the National Electrification Administration since 2014 for assistance to build another 5MVA substation in the province because the substation was already at 100 percent load even then.
 
Abreco reportedly tried to restore power early Saturday morning in the capital town of Bangued, but failed. There is no timeline on when power will be restored across the province.
 
The power cooperative had just restored, without any help from NEA, 80 percent of electricity in the province in first week of December after Typhoon Lawin damaged P60 million in power lines there.