BENGUET Electric Cooperative said the damage to its facilities from Typhoon Ompong has reached P30 million.
Beneco Network Services Department manager Melchior Licoben said they have submitted a damage report to the National Electrification Administration and the Department of Energy.
“Benguet Electric Cooperative will benefit from any assistance coming from government to reduce the expenses of the cooperative in fully rehabilitating the damaged electrical lines and facilities to all its member consumers in Baguio City and Benguet Province,” Licoben said.
Electric cooperatives heavily affected by the typhoon included the Cagayan II Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Cagelco II) with an initial damage cost of P25 million, followed by Abra Electric Cooperative (Abreco) with P20 million, Cagelco I with P19.276 million, Ilocos Norte Electric, Inc. (INEC) with P15.5 million, and Beneco with P15.394 million.
NEA deputy administrator for technical services Artis Nikki Tortola said the amount is likely to increase as the ECs have yet to determine the full extent of the damage caused by Ompong to their respective distribution facilities.
"It will likely increase but we are hoping not that much since electric cooperatives are not complete strangers to this kind of weather scenario. We are confident that with the Build Back Better program and enough pre-typhoon measures, the impact of this calamity to EC facilities has been sufficiently mitigated," Tortola said.
Beneco is rehabilitating electrical lines and facilities damaged by soil erosion, landslides and broken poles.