Iloilo City to experience weekend brownouts

By Rjay Zuriaga Castor

Ilonggo consumers are set to experience an arid weekend amid the extreme weather conditions, as scheduled power outages are set to affect various areas of Iloilo City from April 20 (Saturday) to April 21 (Sunday).

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) and MORE Electric and Power Corporation (MORE Power), the electric distribution utility (DU) of the city, have announced maintenance operations on the transmission lines to ensure the reliability and efficiency of the power grid.

NGCP stated it will conduct wood pole replacement and corrective maintenance on one of its transmission lines, affecting consumers covered by the whole of the La Paz substation.

The scheduled power interruption on Saturday will last from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Meanwhile, MORE Power announced that Sunday’s power interruption will be due to the washing or cleaning of the 69kV sub-transmission line 5 and the replacement of post insulators.

Affected areas include the whole of the Mandurriao substation and some portions of the La Paz, Jaro, and Diversion feeder.

The power interruption will last for at least 12 hours, from 5:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

“Power interruptions in the afternoon may be implemented earlier once the activity is completed,” stated Iloilo City’s DU in an advisory.

Earlier this April, MORE Power had cautioned of a series of city-wide scheduled power interruptions this April due to extensive cleaning operations on its transmission lines.

“Consumers can anticipate a franchise-wide scheduled power interruption within April to prevent similar incidents (emergency power interruption), especially with the expectation of light rains in the upcoming weeks,” it said.

These power interruptions stem from the initiation of Phase 2 of an extensive cleaning operation on the 69kV lines.

Engr. Bernard Bailey Del Castillo, MORE Power’s Vice President of the Network Development and Operations Group, previously explained that the low chance of rain has caused dirt and salt buildup on its insulators and facilities.

“Dirty insulators on our power lines are a big problem because even light rain can cause sparks and outages. We need heavy rain to wash away the dirt,” he explained.