Still no electricity for almost 800,000 Meralco customers

The Manila Electric Company (Meralco) on Thursday night announced that a total of 784,954 customers still have no power after the onslaught of typhoon Ulysses. 

“Our line personnel will continue work round-the-clock to slowly restore electricity in areas accessible to Meralco equipment while waiting for conditions to improve in areas that remain inaccessible as of the moment,” Meralco said in a statement.

The number is an improvement from the nearly four million customers who lost power after strong winds and rains from Typhoon Ulysses knocked down power lines and toppled utility poles in the company's service areas.

The number decreased to 1.94 million as of 12 noon and further decreased to more than 700,000 as of 8 p.m.

Meralco began restoration efforts at around 6 a.m. and 7 a.m.

The company’s spokesperson Joe Zaldarriaga earlier appealed to customers for their understanding. He also said that Meralco will restore power “at the soonest possible time.”

“The primordial consideration is to restore power in areas where we will be able to provide electricity back,” Zaldarriaga said.

All Tropical Cyclone Wind Signals have been lifted in the country. — Joahna Lei Casilao/BM, GMA News