Around “56 percent” of the 22,618 houses and commercial and government establishments covered by the Bohol Light Company, Inc.’s (BLCI) are ready to receive power from the distribution utility (DU).
According to BLCI spokesperson Sheryl Paga, as of Friday last week, over 12,000 houses and establishments can be energized once the DU gets enough power supply.
BLCI, which caters to Tagbilaran City, continued to fix their distribution lines while some households and businesses have been “isolated” from the grid due to damages incurred by their connection to the DU’s secondary lines.
“Kung pananglitan nig adto nato sa site dili pa ready ang ilahang balay na e-connect og balik automatic gyud na e-isolate. Amo ra ng e-advise sila na mao ni ilang buhaton unya mo contact lang sila sa among opisina,” said Paga.
Despite the preparedness of more structures to be energized, BLCI has only been able to provide electricity to 3,900 houses and establishments due to the lack of power supply.
BLCI, along with the Bohol’s two other DUs, has been drawing power from temporary backup sources, the Bohol Diesel Power Plant in Tagbilaran City and the Power Barge 104 in Ubay, which are both not enough to meet the entire province’s power demand of 90 megawatts.
According to PAGA, they have partially restored power in 13 of Tagbilaran City’s 15 barangays.
Villages with partially restored power included Poblacion 1, Poblacion 2, Poblacion 3, Cogon, San Isidro, Dampas, Bool, Booy, Taloto, Mansasa, Cabawan, and Dao.
Meanwhile, more repairs were still needed for Barangays Manga, Ubajan and Tiptip for BLCI to also provide power to the villages.
Paga said they have completed the repair of their backbone lines with the help of personnel of DUs outside Bohol including Meralco, the country’s largest power distributor. They have also repaired 51 of their 52 primary lines.
However, rehabilitation of their secondary lines were still ongoing.
According to Paga, they plan to complete repairs before February 15, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines’ (NGCP) target date for their establishment of Emergency Restoration System structures that will allow Bohol to draw power from its original source in Leyte.
“Nag-apas mi nga kadtong bag-ong pronouncement sa NGCP na maningkamot sila na by February 15 hopefully makahatag sila nato og supply na gyud using sa ilang temporary tower na gigamit,” said Paga. (R. Tutas)