Meralco: Power restoration in areas hit by Ondoy to take time

Some areas in Metro Manila and nearby provinces will have to wait longer for their electricity to be restored, an official from the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) said Monday.

In an interview on GMA 7’s Unang Balita, Joe Zaldariaga, Meralco external communications manager, said that it will be hard for their engineers to restore power in areas where flood waters are still high.

"Meron pang mga areas talaga, particular diyan sa Maynila, Pasig, Rizal… parts ng Bulacan, particular sa Plaridel… marami pa tayong sirkito na kailangang tuunan ng pansin at ibalik yung serbisyo. Fifty-percent ng circuits ay apektado ng massive flooding. Andudun pa rin yung mataas na tubig baha kaya it would take some time," Zaldariaga said.

(There are areas, specifically in Manila, Pasig, Rizal… parts in Bulacan, particularly in Plaridel, which have circuits that need to be fixed so that we can restore our services. Fifty-percent of our circuits in those areas are affected by massive flooding, so it would take some time for power to be restored.)

Zaldariaga added that they need to ensure the safety of the residents in those areas before they can completely bring electricity back.


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In a statement sent to GMANews.TV, Meralco said that as of 8 a.m. Monday, only 27 circuits of the 683 circuits (four percent) in the entire Meralco franchise remain to be without power because of floodwater.

It estimated the number of affected Meralco customers to be at 132,000 or around three percent of their 4.6 million registered customers.

The Meralco official was quick to add, however, that households which haven’t experienced any flooding might also have the power cut off. He said the circuits supplying power to them are the same circuits servicing identified flooded areas.

Zaldariaga said that still they need to ensure the safety of the residents in areas flooded by water before they can completely bring electricity back.

"Safety of residents remains to be the primary concern in restoring power to these affected areas," he said in the same statement.

He assured consumers, however, that almost all their personnel are on the field, ready to repair the damaged circuits as soon as flood waters recede.

“We would like to assure our customers, though, that virtually all of our field personnel have already been deployed and have been working round the clock to restore power in the most reasonable time possible," he said.

Don't fool around with cables

The Meralco official also reminded residents not to fool around with electric cables. He said "kung may makikita silang nakalaylay [na kable ng kuryente], itawag nalang nila sa amin. Hindi ‘yan biro. First and foremost, isa alang-alang nila ang kanilang safety (if they see sagging electric lines, they should call Meralco immediately. They should think about their safety, it is not a joke)."

Electricity in some areas are still down since Saturday, when tropical storm ‘Ondoy’ brought heavy rains to the metro and nearby provinces.