Power restored in some parts of Albay

Residents of parts of Albay province got some relief from the province-wide power outage Wednesday after the Department of Energy (DOE) ordered the restoration of electric power there by 5 p.m.

Albay Governor Jose Salceda, in a post on his Facebook page, cited reports reaching him that power has already been restored in some parts of the province.

Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla ordered the restoration of power to Albay by 5 p.m., after the Albay Electric Cooperative (ALECO) agreed to some conditions to restore power, radio dzBB's Sam Nielsen reported.

The dzBB report said the conditions included cutting off power to the top 100 delinquent customers, and the possibility of declaring a state of calamity so the province can get access to funds that can help settle the cooperative's bill.

Albay was plunged into darkness Tuesday noon after the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines cut off power supply to ALECO.

Earlier reports indicated that ALECO had nearly P1 billion in unsettled bills, including P56 million in June alone.

State-run Philippines News Agency reported that the disconnection had affected 160,000 households in the province, angering local traders.

Salceda had earlier posted on Facebook what he said was an exchange of text messages between him and Petilla.

He said Petilla informed him that he had ordered the reconnection of Albay to the grid by 5 p.m. "after ALECO disconnected the top 100 non-paying customers." — KBK, GMA News