2 weeks Ago
The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) on Sunday said it targets to restore power in areas hit by Severe Tropical Storm Kristine (international name: Trami), with now some 6,000 or 1% of its total customers affected by service interruptions. In an advisory, Meralco said the customers affected by service interruptions were mostly located in parts of Cavite and Laguna, as of 7 a.
m. on Sunday, October 27. This compares to the 535,000 affected customers during the peak of Kristine.
“We thank our customers for their patience and understanding. Our crews and personnel will not stop until power service has been restored to the remaining affected customers, as we target full restoration within the day,” Meralco vice president and head of corporate communications Joe Zaldarriaga said. “We continue to closely monitor the weather situation and we assure our customers that our crews and personnel are ready to respond 24/7,” he added.
Meralco constructs, operates, and maintains electric distribution systems in the cities and municipalities of Bulacan, Cavite, Metro Manila, and Rizal, as well as certain areas in the provinces of Batangas, Laguna, Pampanga, and Quezon. The company allocated P40 billion for its capital expenditures (capex) this year, which includes P24 billion for distribution utilities, P4 billion for power generation, and parts going to other systems. The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) earlier reported that a number of power transmission lines were rendered temporarily unavailable due to the onslaught of Kristine.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said there were 158 areas that have so far declared a state of calamity in the aftermath of Kristine, with the latest report by the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) indicating 85 deaths. — BM, GMA Integrated News.
