Where’s Noreco 2’s customer care when you need one? Foundation University sustained losses Monday after a generator caught fire around 10:30 a.m. Damage was placed at P1.5 million for the generator but losses from being unable to conduct business were still being computed. {{more}}
Victor Vicente Sinco, vice president for finance and administration, said the university was running its generator for the last three days because of a broken Noreco 2 cut-out fuse last Saturday. Noreco did not have a replacement.
Sought for comment, Engr. Dominador Tragico, Noreco 2 maintenance manager, said solo users like Foundation University have to buy their own fuse.
Sinco, however, lamented the lack of communication from the electric cooperative. Noreco, he said, never told them that FU had to buy its own fuse, all they did was to remove the damaged fuse 12 hours after the initial call was placed and left without a word.
The university, in fact, took the initiative to buy the fuse as soon as the stores opened on Monday — before the fire happened. “We called Noreco 2 first thing in the morning for them to replace the fuse but they didn’t come early enough before the fire,” Sinco lamented.
Noreco 2 linemen appeared immediately after the fire was extinguished and installed the fuse to restore power but the damage was already done, Sinco said.
He said the generator engine and its cooling system were functioning normally before the fire but it was the wires from the generator controllers that caught fire.
Firetrucks from the Dumaguete City Fire Station immediately responded to the alarm although alert faculty and staff were able to put out the fire before the firemen arrived.
Sometime last year, Noreco 2’s unstable voltage also caused some uninterrupted power supply units at Entheos IT inside the FU main campus to catch fire. Fortunately, the fire occurred at 4:55 p.m. and was immediately placed under control by alert EntheosIT employees. Damages from that fire at that time were at the tune of P125,000.
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