“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day-in and day-out.” – Robert Collier
MORE Power will soon reach the tail end of its 5th year of rehabilitation activities, which kicked off in 2020 when it begun its operations in Iloilo City. In line with that, the duration of scheduled power interruptions on weekends will be reduced from 12-13 hours to 8 hours!
No less than Engr. BERNARD BAILEY Del CASTILLO, Vice President for the Network Development and Operations Group, stated, “the remaining rehabilitation work can now be completed within a maximum of 8 hours on weekends, sparing consumers from experiencing half a day of power interruptions.”
“We understand the inconvenience that our consumers have faced with 12- to13-hour power interruptions almost every week,” he added. “That’s why, starting in July 2024, we will shorten the duration of scheduled power interruptions.”
He also assured customers that they will be informed 3-4 days in advance of any scheduled power interruptions to allow for adequate preparation. “Although the Magna Carta for Residential Electricity Consumers states that customers should be informed of scheduled power interruptions 48 hours prior to the scheduled power interruption, at MORE Power, we are committed to notifying our consumers 3-4 days in advance, giving them ample time to plan their weekends,” he further said.
Emphasizing that not all scheduled power interruptions are initiated by MORE Power, the operations honcho also pointed out that several requests come from the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP). These requests typically require 12-13 hours. Thus, MORE Power takes advantage of NGCP’s scheduled maintenance works to avoid wasting the long hours of no power in its franchise area.
To mitigate the stress on these weekend power interruptions, MORE Power provides affected customers with free mobile charging and water, especially during the summer when water is scarce.
Del CASTILLO reiterated that the rehabilitation of facilities to modernize the power grid cannot be done overnight and has taken years to achieve significant progress, “When we took over, almost all of the electrical facilities throughout the city were either defective or obsolete, requiring the replacement of nearly everything.” he said. “While we conduct preparatory work through live line method without interruptions on weekdays, kailangan talaga natin na magkaroon ng brownout on weekends para makuha ang mga lumang poste and as we finalize the setup to ensure the safety of our linemen.”
In four years of powering Iloilo City’s future, MORE Power has invested heavily in infrastructure upgrades to improve distribution services and drive progress in the city. Among them are the 33MVA Diversion Substation, the 30/36 MVA Megaworld Substation, 10/12.4 MVA and 30/36 MVA mobile substations. They all serve as temporary backups during the total rehabilitation of land-based substations.
MORE Power’s other worthy achievements include replacement and installation of over 7,000 poles, installation of 45 automatic circuit reclosers and 22 load break switches to isolate and immediately restore power during momentary faults, purchase of modern testing equipment, and the ongoing work on the underground distribution system along Calle Real. “A total of approximately 50 circuit kilometers of lines were replaced and reconductored with tree wire from 2022 until the end of June 2024, Del CASTILLO enthused. “These tree wires are insulated primary lines designed to prevent power interruptions caused by animal intrusion and vegetation.”