ILOILO City residents in several barangays braced for a planned 12-hour power interruption on Sunday, April 28, 2024.
The outage, which began at 5 a.m., aimed to improve the city's power grid infrastructure and minimize future outages.
More Power, the city's power distributor, undertook the service interruption to conduct critical upgrades. These included reconductoring of tree wires, installing new concrete poles, and replacing cross arms.
A power outage affected several areas for 12 hours.
Specific details were provided in separate advisories, but some highlighted areas included:
- Whole of Diversion Feeders 1 and 3
- Whole of Rizal Ibara, Rizal Pala-pala II and Rima Rizal (Molo Feeder 2)
- Portions of Molo Feeder 2 include Barangays Flores, Gloria, Hipodromo, Liberation, Maria Clara, Nonoy, Osmeña, Rizal Pala-pala I, San Agustin, San Jose, and Villa Anita.
A shorter, two-hour interruption occurred between 5 and 6 a.m. and 4:00 and 5 p.m. for those who reside in certain areas under Molo Feeder 2 and 3.
While acknowledging the disruption, More Power took steps to mitigate the inconvenience.
Free portable water for washing and bathing and mobile generator/charging stations were provided in select barangays in the City Proper District.
The company recognized that water needs may vary by location, and space limitations might affect charging station placement.
The scheduled distribution of free water was provided to several barangays in the City Proper District. These included Nonoy, Villa Anita, Osmeña, Rizal Pala-Pala Zone I and II, as well as North and South Baluarte. The barangays of Hipodromo, Cochero, and Maria Clara can be found in the Molo District.
Charging stations were strategically placed in different areas, offering residents free access. The mentioned locations are found in different barangays within the City Proper District. These include Villa Anita, Osmeña, Rizal Pala-Pala Zone II, Hipodromo, Maria Clara, Rima Rizal, and San Agustin. These areas are located near their respective barangay halls or other landmarks, such as the Iglesia ni Cristo church or Don Williams Road.
Power was restored to all affected feeders by 4:14 p.m., exceeding expectations by 46 minutes.
"Today's work was successful. We replaced over 1.5km of primary lines with tree wire or insulated wires, replaced more than 50 old and damaged cross-arms with steel cross-arms, installed additional poles, replaced old fuse cut-outs, and made other necessary corrections, especially to cope with the increasing demand for electricity caused by excessive heat," according to More Power.
This successful completion of the planned outage paves the way for a more reliable and safer power grid in the affected areas, minimizing the likelihood of unscheduled outages, particularly during heavy rain.
More Power expresses gratitude to the Federation Iloilo Volunteer Fire Brigade and Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas for their crucial collaboration in achieving this project. (Leo Solinap/SunStar Philippines)