CITY Councilor Ian Nacaya is calling on the Cagayan Electric Power and Light Company (Cepalco) to implement brownouts only during daytime.
In a special report during Monday’s session at the City Council, Nacaya said brownouts in the evening, especially from 6 p.m. until 11 p.m., has caused a lot of hassles to workers who wish to enjoy all the pleasures at home during these hours.
“Students also have a hard time studying without proper light illumination and petty crimes in the city have already soared high,” Nacaya said.
He said it was not yet validated that rotating brownouts would really help in conserving energy.
Nacaya said if it is possible to have no brownouts during Sundays like what happened during the fight of Manny Pacquiao and Joshua Clottey, “then it should also be possible to implement brownouts only during the day.”
Lloyd Castillo, environmental officer and customer and community relations supervisor of Cepalco, said the brownout would solely depend on the load curtailment for the day based on a daily report issued by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).
“The NGCP will call Cepalco that they really have to shut down kay dili makaya sa load,” Castillo said in a text message.
During Monday’s session, Nacaya also requested the City Council to review the schedule of rotating brownouts in the city and to cultivate resources to generate power as a solution to the power crisis.
With this, he called on the City Council’s Committee on Energy headed by Councilor President Elipe to look for possible solutions to solve the power crisis in the city.
Nacaya suggested it might be good to take advantage of the sun’s rays and possibly put up a solar panel.
“Since it is quite expensive to purchase solar panels, the City Government may make use of local and national funds to look for Filipino inventors who can invent a cheaper way of coming up with a power source,” Nacaya said.
He said other option is to make measures to produce power out of natural resources, which must be taken up seriously by the government.
For his part, Elipe said coming up with a fast solution might only jeopardize the situation.
However, he said he supports the call of Nacaya as he vowed to review the schedule of rotating brownouts in the city. (Nicole J. Managbanag)