Four polling precincts affected by power interruption in Cavite

By DANESSA RIVERA, GMA News

Published May 13, 2013 1:50pm

(UPDATED 4:00 p.m.) - Heavy rain has affected electricity in at least four polling centers in Cavite province, the Department of Energy (DOE) said on Monday afternoon.

Manila Electric Company (Meralco) spokesperson Joe Zaldarriaga said the cause of power interruption, which started at around 12:10 p.m., in Dasmarinas, Cavite is still being checked.

"It is still being checked as we speak. Kanina kasi may matitinding kidlat na tumama sa Dasmarinas, Cavite, yung system natin overhead suscpetible to lightning baka may natamaan. Pero hinahanap na ng Meralco," he said in a briefing in Quezon City.

"As of 1:30 pm, we have two out 714 cicuits reportedly still out in Cavite-Dasmarinas area and is being addressed now and we have four still out of 2717 polling centers," he added.

In a post on its Twitter account at 1:10 p.m., the DOE said the affected polling centers are in Dasmariñas in Cavite, even as the Manila Electric Co. is undertaking repairs.

"Power update (in) Dasmariñas, Cavite: the power of four polling centers (was) affected due to heavy rain," the DOE said.

Meralco is undertaking efforts to restore normal power, it added.

However, in another DOE tweet, Assistant Director Irma Exconde said "power remains at normal levels."

Exconde explained that the power outages are not supply-related.

She also said power outages will not affect elections as Comelec also advised that PCOS machines have backup batteries.

From 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Filipinos are expected to troop to voting centers to cast votes for senators, party list groups, and local government officials.

Brownouts in other parts of the country

Brownouts hit parts of Metro Manila, Southern Luzon, and Mindanao on Election Day on Monday as repair crews rushed to complete repair work in affected areas.

Manila Electric Co. (MECO) spokesperson Dina Lomotan cited reports about brownouts in Taguig City in Metro Manila, and in parts of Laguna province.

"Meron kaming incident sa Taguig, nawalan ito bago 8:00 a.m. at naibalik naman," she said in an interview on radio dzBB.

According to GMA reporter Steve Dailisan, the Ricardo Elementary School in Lower Bicutan Taguig City experienced a power interruption after a transformer exploded.

However, voting in Taguig continued despite the brownout because the Precinct Count Optical Scanners (PCOS) machines have 12-hour standby batteries.

“[Ang] aga aga pa umuusok na agad [yung transformer] pero kahit papaano nakakaboto naman,” a voter told Dailisan in an interview on Monday morning.

Zaldarriaga said the browout in Taguig City Monday morning was caused by load site overloading.

“In Taguig, the power interruption was due to load site trouble sa internal facility sa loob ng school, five 1-horsepower aircon were turned on [and] this caused the overloading of facility around 7:45 a.m. By 10:45 a.m. restored na,” he said in a briefing on Monday.

He noted that Meralco has asked not to bring in additional appliances to avoid any power interruption.

The Makban transmission line that tripped this morning, which caused power outages in Calamba, Laguna, has also been restored immediately, DOE assistant director Irma Exconde said. “What we received is it (line) tripped. On the specific reason, we still have to look at it. It started 8:32 a.m. and went back at 9:46 a.m.,” she said.

Zaldarriaga said the transmission line was the problem in Calamba, Laguna as Meralco was connected to the NGCP facility which tripped.

“NGCP facility yung nag out and connected ang Meralco. Nagtrip yung ngcp transformer so nawalan yung Calamba circuit namin. Transmission yung problem. It's an isolated case at na-energize naman nila kagad,” he said.

Exconde said other areas that experienced power interruption which include Olongapo, the franchise area of Cebeco in Visayas, Aurora-Misamis Occidental in Mindanao, have already been addressed.

“The duration of the power interruptions lasted for about two minutes in Mindanao, about five minutes in Visayas,” she said.

“We cannot categorically state the number [of all power outages]... because once it's already restored, we don't count it anymore. What we monitor are those that are not yet restored,” the DOE official added.

"Normal" situation in Mindanao

Meanwhile, the DOE said the power situation in Mindanao remained normal although there were reports of power interruption.

"Except for (a fallen power post) in Iligan, all others were due to transient faults along distribution lines," it said in a post on Twitter.

An electric post fell in Iligan City in Mindanao. However, this did not affect power in any polling centers in the area, Exconde said.

'Sa Iligan Light franchise area, may natumba na poste, but it did not affect any polling precinct. [Kasalukuyang] inaayos na yung poste...pero hindi namin alam kung gaano katagal maitatayo since poste yun but hopefully soon," she said.

Not a power supply problem

The Energy department was quick to assure the public that the power outages were not supply-related.

“Di natin maiiwasan na magkaroon ng local problems. But it's not a supply problem, it's not a power generation problem. It's normal, yung dynamism of the system,” Exconde said.

As of 1:00 p.m., Luzon has an available capacity of 9,071 megawatts, peak demand of 5,490 MW and power reserve of 3,581 MW.

Visayas has an available capacity of 1,795 MW, peak demand of 1,066 MW, and power reserve of 729 MW.

Mindanao has an available capacity of 1,097 MW, peak demand of 918 MW and power reserve of 169 MW.

“We have a normal system condition for Luzon, for Visayas, and for Mindanao. God is good, demand is low, weather is cooperating. Relatively, mataas yung reserve natin compared to a normal day. Relatively, mas konti pa ngayon [ang power outages] kesa sa other years,” Exconde said.

“Mas on our tayo toes after [what happened on] May 8. We look forward until the end of this day na may election until hanggang may ginagawa pa sa mga polling precincts, magtutuloy tuloy ang normal condition,” she added.

On May 8, six power plants tripped causing a Luzon-wide power outage: the Sta. Rita, San Lorenzo and Ilijan power plants in Batangas, as well as those in Mauban, Quezon and Sual in Pangasinan.

Hotlines

Amid brownouts reported in the provinces on Election Day, the DOE issued hotlines of the National Electrification Administration to call.

In a post on its Twitter account, the DOE said the hotlines are for power concerns in areas served by electric cooperatives.

These include:

NEA hotline - 09177042259
North Luzon - 9292040
South Luzon - 9292243
Visayas - 9291976
Mindanao - 9292219

- VVP, GMA News

Tags: brownout, blackout, eleksyon2013, cavite