Four Feeders Down, Technical Repairs Ongoing

Mindful of the urgency to restore power to affected consumers following Thursday’s massive brownout, the Benguet Electric Cooperative (BENECO) technical team is currently on full gear to fully restore power the soonest.

The power interruption that affected feeders 7, 8, 9 and 10 caused technical problems to the two main breakers of the electric cooperative’s substation at North Sanitary Camp, Baguio City. The unscheduled interruption started at 6:30 PM of May 10. Some areas were already energized but work is on progress this time to restore power to the remaining areas. Linemen earlier diverted power supply from other feeders to the areas without power that resulted to a big reduction of the number of consumers without light.

“We appeal to our member-consumer-owners (MCOs) who will remain without power today for additional patience and understanding. While we have restored electricity through diversion, there are areas that may still experience sporadic outages. We will also schedule a power interruption today to work on the preventive maintenance of our North Sanitary Camp substation,”Melchor Licoben, general manager, said.

Licoben called for an urgent meeting with the engineers early this morning to assess and agree on measures on how to address the situation with urgency. “We will try our very best to restore power today or at the latest tomorrow morning", Ramel Rifani, network department manager, said.

No diversions will be implemented today as BENECO’s Warriors of Light will concentrate on the NSC substation.

Considering that power substations are the heart of the distribution system, BENECO ensures that its substations are fully protected by strictly adhering to internationally accepted designs and standards for its construction and equipment.

Periodic maintenance activities are likewise implemented to ensure that all its substation equipment is in good operating conditions. However, instances such as this are isolated and BENECO is doing its best to restore power at the soonest possible time.

As of 8 am today, the areas without power are:

Feeder 8
Baguio City: Camp Henry I. Allen, Upper Market Subdivision, Kayang Extension, AZCKO, Rizal Monument, Burnham-Legarda-Kisad, Palma-Urbano, MRR Queen of Peace, City Camp Proper, City Camp Central, Parts of Bakakeng Central, Bakakeng Norte/Sur (except New Site, Eagle Crest, Ciudad Grande, SLU Bakakeng), Dontogan, Ferdinand, General Emilio F. Aguinaldo, Imelda R. Marcos, Lower Rock Quarry, Middle Rock Quarry, Upper Rock Quarry, SLU-SVP Housing (Old Site), Sto. Rosario Valley, Sto. Tomas Proper, Sto. Tomas School Area, Upper Quirino Magsaysay. Tuba: Parts of Poblacion TB, Taloy Norte, Taloy Sur, Tabaan Norte

Feeder 9
La Trinidad: parts of Balili LT (Cabanao, Tabangaoen, BSU), parts of Pico (along Halsema Highway, Benguet General Hospital BeGH, LTB Municipal Hall), Parts of Betag, Alapang and Alno. Tublay: Tuel (Asin), Sablan: Balluay

Feeders 7 and 10 were energized at 1 AM of May 21.