Tuesday, October 24, 2006 7-hr. brownouts for 2 days
EXCEPT for scheduled power interruptions to upgrade power lines, the Visayan Electric Co. (Veco) assured its consumers that no more power failures will happen like last Sunday and yesterday.
Veco spokesperson Ethel Natera said the brownout in Cebu City south from 6 p.m. Sunday and 1:30 a.m. Monday was caused by the breaker of their Ermita substation that bogged down.
The power outage led to the cancellation of the regular session of the Cebu Provincial Board yesterday afternoon.
Electricity went out at the legislative building yesterday morning because of a busted fuse.
Vice Gov. Gregorio Sanchez Jr. said their generator was also out of order.
Sanchez said they had to call off the regular session because “it will be hard to discuss without microphones and the equipment to record the proceedings.”
Among the items in the agenda were the annual budget for next year and the ordinance on the creation of a provincial water authority.
For her part, Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia said a power outage won’t be a problem for the Cebu International Convention Center, main venue of the Asean summit in December, because they have a looping system with two feeders, aside from power generators.
“We prepared for such eventualities,” the governor said.
Hotels, which will also house foreign delegates and other participants in the summit, are also required to have generators ready.
Some Cebu City residents also had fears about brownouts.
Punta Princesa Barangay Captain Jose Navarro said power outages mean economic losses and sleepless nights.
“People suffer. They cannot sleep because they fear that the lighted candles may cause fire and that the thieves might strike,” Navarro said.
Natera said brownouts will be solved because Veco is upgrading its lines.
“We continue to upgrade the system to be able to give more reliable power to consumers,” Natera said, adding that old wires and lines are being replaced in preparation for the upgrading of their Ermita substation.
“Upgrading doesn’t mean zero interruption, but at least we minimize the effect,” Natera said.
At present, Natera said that Veco’s objective is to find a way for consumers to get power supply from other substations in case one bogs down.
For example, if the Ermita substation trips off, the consumers of the area it serves can get their supply from the Banilad substation. (EOB/ Malou Inocando–Tabar, Correspondent)
