CEBU, Philippines — If manpower permits, power in Visayan Electric’s franchise area plagued by blackout following the devastation caused by Typhoon Odette is expected to be restored fully by end of January.
In a press conference last Sunday, Visayan Electric officials expressed hope for the full return of power by January 31, 2022, provided that the augmented manpower from other electricity distributors can be sustained.
Organic linemen of Visayan Electric, together with engineers and crews from various distribution utilities from all over the country, have been working round the clock to clear lines and restore power at the soonest and safest possible time, according to the company.
The power distribution firm also forecasts to reenergize 30% of its customers by December 31 and 80% by January 10.
A vast portion of Metro Cebu, which happens to be Visayan Electric’s franchise area, suffered immense damage in the wake of Typhoon Odette last December 16.
As it stands, close to a thousand consumers of Visayan Electric have now regained their power supply.
Latest update also showed that power of 98,321 out of the 474,182 affected consumers and 288 of 544 (52.9%) power line segments have already been restored.
Yesterday alone, an additional 34,206 customers were reenergized and 37 more line segments restored.
With this, some streets in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Talisay, and Naga, as well as in the towns of Liloan, San Fernando, and Minglanilla have already been lighted.
Visayan Electric has also energized the Cebu City Health Office-City Hall building storage, DOH warehouse at Eversley Childs Sanitarium Hospital in Mandaue City, Rural Health Unit 3 in Lawaan 3, Talisay City, and Rural Health Unit 1 Minglanilla storage.
Also energized were eight pumping stations of Abejo Waters and 49 others of the Metropolitan Cebu Water District.
“Restoration is taking longer in areas where Visayan Electric’s distribution facilities sustained heavy damage such as toppled poles, downed wires, and damaged transformers,” the firm said in its update.
Aside from incurring damage transformers, the firm also reported some that were stolen and sold.
Water supply
Meanwhile, MCWD has partially restored the water supply in at least 79 of 168 barangays in its franchise area that were affected by Typhoon Odette.
In a statement, MCWD said that as of December 27, it is producing 133,300 cubic meters of water per day or 55.6% of its total normal production of 240,000 cubic meters a day. This means that at least 120,000 of the 200,000 total service connections now have running water.
The water supply is from the 62 wells that are now up and running, 36 are powered by generator sets while 26 are VECO-energized.
MCWD has a total of 138 production wells in different locations within its service area – Cebu City, Mandaue City, Lapu-Lapu City, Talisay City, Consolacion, Liloan, Compostela, and Cordova.
Right after the typhoon, the production and distribution department of MCWD immediately deployed generator sets to start the restoration efforts of the water district.
The department’s acting manager, Tommy Gonzales, explained that among the factors they considered in deploying the generator sets is the accessibility of the pumps, which means the location is not obstructed with fallen trees and other debris, as well as compatibility with the well’s electrical rating.
Pumps that produce water that is directly fed to the consumers are also prioritized.
Now that the Visayan Electric has energized 26 of MCWD’s wells, the generator sets there have been transferred to other wells that do not have power yet and are located in areas that could not be reached by the supply of Visayan Electric-powered wells.
Some of MCWD’s well fields like those in Lagtang, Casili, and Jaclupan have “in place” generator sets and one generator set can energize a cluster of wells. These generator sets utilize the power line of Visayan Electric in order to supply power to more than one well.
Also, MCWD has reiterated that its water is clean and safe for drinking.
It also appealed to consumers whose water service is restored not to join the long queue in water refilling stations and give chance to those do not have access to potable water. – JMD (FREEMAN)