ILOILO City – The incompetence is showing more and more, according to residents inconvenienced by some 15 hours of power interruption in Mandurriao district yesterday.
MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) scheduled a 13-hour 4 a.m. to 5 p.m. brownout for a preventive maintenance of its substation in the district, and outages in other parts of the city.
But as it turned out yesterday, the power interruption was extended to two more hours, angering residents already troubled by the prolonged brownout.
Social media, particularly Facebook, exploded with angry posts from netizens.
“MORE Power, your incompetence is showing more and more each passing day, from supply or lack of supply to unexplainable (sic) bill. You’re no different from the former electric (sic) supplier, maybe more,” posted a Facebook user with the hand “Jet S Kie”.
In an advisory, MORE Power said the brownout was extended due to the misalignment of the Disconnect Switch (DSW) of its 69 kV substransmission line in Barangay Baldoza, La Paz which supplies power to its Mandurriao and Jaro power substations.
Frustrated Facebook user “Chia Dirsa” posted: “MORE doesn’t know how to manage the expectations of their customers.”
Addressing MORE Power directly, Dirsa further wrote: “Your 13-hour time frame should have included any ‘misalignment’ events that may occur. Parang ang incompetent ng dating nyo nyan eh. Hindi kayo naglagay ng allowance para sa ganyang situation.”
Aside from the preventive maintenance of its substation in Mandurriao, MORE Power also did line maintenance work (replaced rotten poles and cross-arms and installed automatic circuit reclosers).
“What I don’t get is why take over power (distribution in the city) if you’re not ready to supply stable and good service,” posted disgusted Facebook user “Matthey Dent”.
MORE Power replaced Panay Electric Co. as the city’s power distributor. It secured a 25-year franchise from the government in 2019 with a promise of delivering better service.
Exasperated netizen Eden Tejam Enoy urged MORE Power to level with consumers if it could not resume supplying the city with electricity on time as promised yesterday. “Sunod adlaw nyo na lang kami gaan kuryente. Huya-huya pa kamo,” she posted on Facebook.
On the other hand, netizen Cire Segdor wrote on the popular social media site: “Ti, MORE nasadyahan kamo? Indi kami katulog mayo, 12 hours duty sa ospital tungod sa pandemic. Tapos maphuway ka na tani kay off mo kay may night duty ka pa, tapos brownout pa? Diin consideration nyo man.”
Other irritated consumers were less diplomatic, such as Facebook user “Mac Mac”: “Ay ka-linte! Ga-work from home kami tapos up to 13 hours brownout? Puro na lang gid ya corrective maintenance haw?”
A Facebook user with the name Genesis Arroyo posted: “Ay ka-deputa nga brownout. Halin sang kamo nag-operate, masami naga-brownout. No to MORE Power.”
Some consumers raised a related concern – their power bills.
“Aside na always na gid blackout, billing nyo since nag-start kamo operate gadugang kada bulan. Additional government charges passed on to consumers. Ang kilowatt nyo gataas kada bulan. I appreciate your effort pero jusko, malooy kamo sa mga other charges. Hagan-hagan abi. Charges nyo mas dako pa sa PECO. Permi lang dayun blackout,” posted Facebook user Nina KT Go-Lao.
When MORE Power was applying for a franchise, it promised not only better service but also affordable electricity.
But Facebook user Mac Mac observed: “Nagmahal na kuryente nyo, hala pa kamo ka-brownout.”/PN
