The long 13-hour power service interruption scheduled by More Electric and Power Corporation to carry out its maintenance activities had enraged consumers in Iloilo City, as this aggravated their suffering while they are wading through stay-at-home quarantines imposed by the government because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The rotating brownouts had been due to the preventive maintenance at the Substation 2 or the Jaro substation on Sunday, May 17, that had affected several feeders – and subsequently resulted in electricity service disruptions in many villages or residential areas as well as businesses.

Another power outage had occurred at the 25MVA Mandurriao Substation the night before, which PECO had successfully maintained within in nine hours despite it having a much larger transformer.

The distress of the consumers had been compounded by the fact that the repair works had been undertaken on a very hot summer day, therefore, giving rise to inconvenience as well as triggering health risks, such as heatstroke or respiratory conditions, especially to the vulnerable population of the city.

Typically, government regulators have been directing power utilities to avoid undertaking “maintenance schedules” during summer months because this is when demand reaches peak; and it is also highly infuriating and perilous to trouble consumers with brownouts when temperatures are rising.

Despite MORE’s previous assurances that Iloilo’s power supply will be stabilized under its control, consumers were still outraged at what had been perceived as excessively long hours of power outages that it has been causing consumers.

“What about people with asthma and high blood pressure?” said Rusty Gonzales, a resident of the city. “Your 13-hour brownout is causing the suffering, okay? We have been suffering for the past months, weeks because of your brownout,” he further lamented.

“Mahar amo na ga pangagaw kamo sang indi inyo. Indi nio man gali kaya. I-balik nio na lang sa tunay nga tag iya. Tia no pa antoson nio kami sang 13 oras? Puerte pa nga daan ka init. Shame on you, ( You took away what’s not yours and you can’t run it well. Better return it to the rightful owners) ” said Erlinda Sanagustin.

One of the substation’s major feeders had experienced a 6-hour power outage in late March, a month after MORE had taken over operations from Panay Electric Company (PECO), which MORE has since claimed it had addressed. Substation 2 has since experienced multiple total shutdowns over the course of April and May.

To recall, MORE took over the operations of power distribution service in Iloilo City last March even without the requisite technical expertise in operating an electricity system; and it was just basically armed with a franchise granted to it by Congress.

According to MORE, the Jaro substation had not been maintained by PECO for the past eight years, however PECO’s records confirm that Substation 2 had indeed undergone preventive maintenance twice during its lifetime. Other repairs and part replacement were continuously done on an as-needed basis.

An increase in load is a yearly anticipation for power industry players during the summer months due to the rise in temperature. Weeks of preparation are required in advance, but given the controversial transfer of control during the most crucial time, it is difficult to know how well the two power companies cooperated, especially considering the violent coercion of PECO employees by MORE security officers.

Industry experts say that the Jaro substation could have been unloaded prior to the maintenance to a 10 MVA mobile substation that would operate during the ongoing work. 

MORE President Roel Castro, in fact, promised during congressional hearings that MORE will provide such mobile substation. But, despite the promise of a P1.9-billion investment in Iloilo, MORE has never rolled it out. 

PECO, on the other hand, had already ordered and paid for a mobile substation already, ready to be deployed to avert a long power outage and to service the Megaworld Development. It was scheduled for installation last March but wasn’t completed because of MORE’s hasty takeover.

MORE has been claiming that it has hired enough technically competent personnel and assuring that Iloilo’s power supply would be stabilized under its control, but experts are concerned that the 13-hour downtime is too long for a job that could be finished in eight hours given enough skilled manpower .

As late as the last the last March 11 hearing with the Energy Regulatory Commission, MORE was still unable to produce an employee roster that verifies its technical competency. Until now, MORE heavily relies on contractors instead.

“The 13-hour brownout is the minimum number of hours that our contractor needs to finish the maintenance services for the Jaro substation,” said MORE. “Our technical team from Planning and Network Operations departments supervise the execution of the contract.”

To date, the case regarding the constitutionality of MORE’s takeover of the power distribution facilities remains pending with the Supreme Court.