Power in NCR, Regions 3, 4-A fully restored by Sunday: DOE

According to Meralco, 6.7 percent or 453,349 customers were still without electricity as of 11 a.m. Friday. (Pixabay photo)

MANILA – Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said Friday they target to fully restore electricity in the National Capital Region (NCR), Region 3, and Region 4-A, which are served by power distribution firm Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), by Nov. 15.

During the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) press briefing on Typhoon Ulysses at Camp Emilio Aguinaldo, Quezon City on Friday, Cusi said around 4,000 Meralco linemen are deployed in its franchise areas to fix the power lines damaged by Typhoon Ulysses.

According to Meralco, 6.7 percent or 453,349 customers were still without electricity as of 11 a.m. Friday.

Initial affected customers were more than 3.8 million.

Most of Meralco’s customers that still have no power as of this morning were in Bulacan with 287,406 affected customers.

This is followed by Metro Manila with 74,283 affected customers, 62,302 customers in Rizal, 20,699 customers in Cavite, 5,821 customers in Laguna, 1,728 customers in Quezon, 991 in Pampanga, and 119 in Batangas,

“As early as Nov. 11, they (Meralco) are restoring power,” Cusi said.

Meralco also sent its personnel to areas affected by Super Typhoon Rolly in the Bicol region for power restoration efforts in the southern part of Luzon.

“In flooded areas, we ask for your patience. We also need to reconsider the safety of our linemen,” Cusi said in Filipino.

He added the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) is also doing foot patrol to assess the extent of damage in energy infrastructure due to “Ulysses”.

As of noon of Nov.12, the Department of Energy update showed that 13 power generation companies in the Luzon grid were affected by the typhoon.

They have a combined capacity of 4,231.8 megawatts.

Some 3,803.8 megawatts (MW) of generating facilities were still down, 306.9 MW were restored, and 121.1 MW were still out and has ongoing restoration.