DAVAO CITY – Davao Light and Power Co. (DLPC) announced that the rotating power interruptions has been increased from one hour up to a maximum of one hour and 30 minutes starting Tuesday.
DLPC said there is “much lower power supply coming from the Mindanao Grid.”
“Just this morning, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) advised that there is a further reduction of the capability of the National Power Corporation’s (NPC) Agus and Pulangi hydro-electric power plants,” DLPC said in a statement adding that water elevation due to dry spell has forced NPC to decrease its supply.
“As of today, NPC through NGCP only allocated about 194 MW to Davao Light from last week’s allocation of about 241 MW of power. This is way lower than the Davao Light’s contracted supply with NPC of 279 MW,” DLPC said in a statement.
Ross Luga, Davao Light Corporate Communications officer, added that with the decreased power allocation by the NPC, “the only option remaining is to stretch the duration of the rotating outages.”
“This is to avoid total collapse of the entire Mindanao transmission grid which happens when the demand for power exceeds the available supply,” Luga said.
However, consumers said the longer power interruption should have been announced much earlier.
Ester Payumo of a non-government organization catering to persons with disabilities said their reports submission has been affected.
“We submit reports through online. They should have announced it ahead of time for us to meet the deadline,” Payumo said.
Payumo said businesses are also affected with power interruptions.
Sheena Duazo, spokesperson of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, said they believe the DLPC is only “conditioning” the public of the low energy supply.
“The DLPC is just re-echoing the justifications of NGCP. This conditioning of low supply is not new to us specially that in the National Capital Region this has been used by the Meralco to justify its power rate hike – because the supply from other power generator is expensive,” Suazo said.
Suazo said the government must rehabilitate the Agus Pulangi and reclaim the management and operation of the power industry in the country.
“Sa 5 years ni [President Benigno Aquino] napamatudan nato ang iyang pagka-inutil sa pagsulbad sa problema sa kuryente including price hikes, gani mas misamot pa kini sa privatization sa power industry (During President Aquino’s five-year term, we have proven that his administration is inutile in solving the energy problem including price hike. It was even worsened because of the privatization of the power industry),” Suazo said.
The electric distribution company will go on with this measure “until further advice from the NGCP to lift its implementation is received.”
DLPC said as part of its contingency measure, it will continue to run its stand by Bajada Power Plant and activate the Interruptible Load Program. (davaotoday.com)
