Power consumers protested a two-hour extension of what was supposed to be a nine-hour brownout last Sunday. While many people flocked to the malls or to the beach to cope with having no electricity at home, they complained after power was not yet restored by the 5 p.m. deadline set by the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines. Power was restored, instead, at 7 p.m.
The brownout was scheduled by the NGCP, which manages the transmission lines of the electricity coming from the Energy Development Corporation. A notice given by the Noreco 2 Information Office on July 13 said the NGCP will cut the power from Amlan to Siaton on July 17 to conduct “technical and maintenance activities” in their 69KV sub-transmission line serving Amlan to Siaton.
This, the announcement said, was part of the NGCP’s Comprehensive Maintenance Plan for 2011 covering the entire Negros Grid.
Beverly Gonzales, Noreco 2 information officer, said Preventive Maintenance Schedule activities are always part of every utility’s standard operating procedure. While the NGCP was doing maintenance services, the Noreco 2 also took the opportunity to trim trees and other vegetation near the power lines.
Nelson Bautista, corporate affairs manager of the NGCP for Panay/Negros, said they failed to restore power at 5 p.m. as scheduled because the replacement of the defective transformer device failed to function. They had to use two more hours to get the transformer to work.
Bautista told the Dumaguete MetroPost that they realize the need for a better information dissemination system between the NGCP and the power consumers who are affected by similar power outages in the future.
He said they will try to inform the public as early as possible from any scheduled power interruption to give them time to prepare for a long brownout.