Thousands without power in south Luzon
At least 12 69-kilovolt lines, including the Daraga substation, in South Luzon were down due to typhoon Nina, leaving thousands of customers without electric supply, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) said on Monday.
Three affected transmission lines were in Batangas province, one in Quezon, five in Camarines Sur, and two in Albay.
Two transmission lines in Quezon and one in Batangas were initially affected but as of 3pm Monday, they have been restored, NGCP said.
Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the largest distribution utility in the country, said as of 2pm, there were around 40,000 out of its six million customers who were suffering from power outage.
"Those affected are in southern part of our franchised areas. We are currently conducting restoration efforts to bring power back," said Meralco spokesperson Joe Zaldarriaga in a text message.
Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, in a statement, ordered the concerned units and agencies to immediately restore power facilities and supply to the damaged communities hit by the weather disturbance specifically in Southern Luzon and the Bicol Region.
“This is another super typhoon, we’ve prepared for it and we are currently on the ground to assess the damage and quickly restore compromised energy facilities in each province," he said.
Romina Marasigan, spokesperson of the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council, said authorities will try their best to restore in these areas before the new year.
The National Electrification Administration has committed to come up with more details from the ground and to deploy the restoration teams under its Task Force Kapatid on Tuesday, DOE said. Celerina Monte/DMS
