(File photo courtesy of Meralco)
MANILA – The Manila Electric Company (Meralco) announced Wednesday that electricity services in its franchise areas affected by Typhoon Aghon returned to normal operations at 10 p.m. of May 28.
Meralco spokesperson and head of corporate communications Joe Zaldarriaga said Meralco crews worked 24/7 to restore electricity services to 1.7 million customers who were affected by power outages due to Typhoon Aghon.
“With almost 100 percent service back in all affected areas, we are now down to the last mile as we work on restoring power almost to the remaining households in far-flung areas as part of our mopping up operations,” Zaldarriaga said.
He also urged customers still without power to contact Meralco through its official social media accounts or texting 0920-971-6211 and 0917-551-6211 or via its hotline 16211 and 8631-1111.
Meralco said despite the Luzon grid being placed under red and yellow alerts Tuesday, the distribution utility did not resort to manual load dropping that would have caused rotational brownouts within its franchise areas.
Meralco said 270 megawatts were collectively deloaded under the interruptible load program (ILP), wherein commercial and industrial power users voluntarily deload their electricity usage to help manage the power demand.
"We thank our ILP partners who have been beneficial in ensuring continuity of electricity service particularly when Luzon grid supply is insufficient," Zaldarriaga said.
Meanwhile, the Luzon grid has remained under red and yellow alert status on Wednesday, according to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).
The available capacity in the grid stood at 12,950 MW, while peak demand is at 12,749, leaving a margin of only 201 MW.
The Luzon grid has been placed under a red alert from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. and yellow alert from noon to 1 p.m., 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. to midnight.
On the other hand, the NGCP lifted the yellow alert status in the Visayas grid as 1:30 p.m. (PNA)
