Iloilo City is losing millions of pesos a day due to the power outage, Mayor Jerry Treñas said on Wednesday, Jan. 3.
The power outage occurred in the city after power plants in Panay Island went down on Tuesday afternoon, Jan. 2.
“Based on rough estimates of the Local Economic Development and Investment Promotion (LEDIP), the city is losing between P400 million to P500 million a day. In three days, we would have lost P1.5 billion. What a way to start the new year!!!” Treñas said.
The city’s sole power distributor, MORE Power, has been implementing rotational brownouts due to the limited power supply.
“We are only 50%, with power . My own house is under rotational brownout. The electric distribution company has prioritized the hospitals,” Treñas said.
The mayor appealed to the national government to help stabilize the power situation in the city.
“The LGUs (local government units) are told by the national government to process business permits in 10 minutes . I ask the national government to give us electricity first. We cannot process the application and print the permits if we do not have electricity,” he said.
In a news release, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) said the “unscheduled maintenance shutdowns of the largest power plants in Panay Island was the primary cause of the [massive power outage.]”IMT
Photo by Arnold Almacen/CMO
