8 provinces totally without power

MANILA, Philippines — Typhoon Ompong caused numerous transmission lines in several provinces in Luzon, particularly in the north, to trip, leaving vast areas without power.

In a press briefing yesterday, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) said 12 230-kilovolt (kv) and 24 69-kv transmission lines tripped as the typhoon entered the country.

By early afternoon yesterday, 16 of the transmission lines had been restored, according to NGCP vice president for operations and maintenance Gildo Listano.

The howler knocked off power in Aurora, Cagayan, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Abra, Kalinga Apayao, Mountain Province and Nueva Vizcaya, NGCP assistant vice president for Luzon system operations Raul Seludo said, citing initial reports.

Other provinces, meanwhile, had to make do with reduced electricity supply: La Union with 17 percent power; Benguet, 10 percent; Isabela, 11 percent; Pangasinan,15 percent; Zambales, 90 percent.

The typhoon also caused the tripping of transmission lines in the Visayas, nine of which had been restored as of press time, Seludo said. NGCP personnel were doing damage assessment, Listano said.

“We want to fast track restoration. We’re currently completing the damage assessment,” he said. “But as of now, we don’t have an estimate as to when we can restore transmission lines in these areas.”

Meanwhile, several areas within the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) franchise area experienced intermittent power interruption due to inclement weather.

Meralco franchise area covers Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite and Rizal, as well as certain areas in Batangas, Laguna, Pampanga and Quezon.

“Due to the effects of Typhoon Ompong on our franchise, around 423,000 customers are affected by service interruptions across our franchise area” as of 10 a.m. yesterday, Meralco spokesman and public information office head Joe Zaldarriaga said.

He said the power distributor is exerting all efforts to restore electricity service in affected areas.

“Meralco continues to work 24/7 to respond to all customer concerns, but would like to inform the public that some areas in need for restoration are inaccessible due to strong winds and floods,” Zaldarriaga said.

“Rest assured that safety of our customers and crew are of utmost importance and we will continue to focus all our efforts on restoring power to customers and areas affected by outages,” he said.

The energy department, for its part, said its Task Force on Energy Resiliency has mobilized personnel to maximize available resources for response and restoration efforts.

“We would like to inform our kababayans that the energy family has been on a heightened alert level even before the typhoon entered the Philippine area of responsibility,” Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said.

“We ensured that emergency preparedness and response mechanisms have been set in place, especially in the areas to be affected,” he added.

“As soon as the weather permits, our dedicated personnel are ready to conduct the assessments and restore affected energy facilities, be it power or oil,” Cusi said.

The National Power Corp. (Napocor), based on report from the Task Force on Energy Resiliency, is monitoring the operations of hydroelectric dams, particularly their water levels, to ensure safe and efficient operations.

As of Friday night, the state-run agency said water spill operations were ongoing at the Ambuklao and Binga Dams in Benguet with water levels at 749.74 meters above sea level (masl) and 572.73 masl, respectively.

“Said water spills are being conducted with utmost caution to maintain normal water level in the reservoir,” it said.

In case a state of calamity is declared, the Department of Energy reminded all oil companies that a price freeze on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and kerosene products takes effect for 15 days after the announcement.