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COTABATO CITY (MindaNews / 15 Dec) – Power consumers in Cotabato City and nearby areas will continue to experience rotational brownouts as power supply from the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) continues to decline, according to the Cotabato Light and Power Company.
“Cotabato Light is informing its customers that power supply situation within its franchise remains very tight,” said Arlene Hepiga, the firm’s communications officer.
“As of Monday morning, NGCP advised an additional deficiency of 40MW due to the reduced capacity of STEAG power plant [in Misamis Oriental],” she said in a statement.
She said Cotabato Light was only receiving 12 megawatts of power, which is still coming from NGCP Tacurong sub-station in Sultan Kudarat province, due to transformer problems. Cotabato Light’s regular demand is 24 MW.
Hepiga said as a result of limited power supply, Cotabato Light has to implement six to eight hours of rotational brownouts in its franchise area, which include parts of the municipalities of Datu Odin Sinsuat and Sultan Kudarat in Maguindanao.
The current power situation in the city was worsened by the toppling by a bomb attack of NGCP Tower No. 68 in Aleosan, North Cotabato Thursday last week.
However, Hepiga said the scheduled brownouts may still change or be cancelled depending on NGCP’s allocation, power plant capability and behavior of demand at a given period of time.
Cotabato Light has repeatedly apologized to its customers for the inconvenience caused by these power interruptions, which it said are beyond its control.