ON SATURDAYS, expect the occurrences of power interruption. Yes, they are scheduled, planned, announced to satisfy the need for proactive information – I grant you that, but they are still disruptive and unwanted. On other days, well, expect the unexpected. These are the unscheduled, unplanned, unannounced power disruptions that also disrupt our regular lives.
Nah, I did not want to sound too sarcastic – I was trying so hard to be objective and less of a critic, but it seems that power interruptions have become a vogue in these parts and dismally, people have become apathetic about it. In short, their exasperation has led to acceptance! How tragic!
I wonder if people’s resignation is the reason the interruptions have seemed interminable – could it? or there is monstruous work to do that up until now Saturday interruptions never appear to end.
I am scratching my head as I try to rationalize but it seems that power interruptions – and I do not mean this in the most disrespectful way – have become a way of life in this island province. How utterly miserable could that get!
From the lack of its own power source – which people had seriously clamored immediately after the 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit Bohol on October 15, 2013 (What did the government leaders do then, I wonder?) – to the breakdown, constant repair, and installation of new distribution and transmission lines, brownouts have become a regular thing. If it were food, it has become a staple fare. And it is all wrong!
How does it work?
Power supply comes from several Independent Power Producers (IPPs) or power plants outside of Bohol, aggregated into the national transmission network which is operated by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), arriving at NGCP substations located in strategic areas in Bohol which then deliver the power supply to the distribution utility’s – Bohol Light Company Inc. (BLCI) for Tagbilaran City and electric cooperatives’ Bohol I Electric Cooperative, Inc. (BOHECO I) for its franchise area; and Bohol II Electric Cooperative, Inc. (BOHECO II) also for its franchise area – substations where step-down transformers reduce the voltage to a level that is suitable for supply to your homes, hospitals, business establishments, industries, government facilities, academic institutions, among others.
As a power consumer of either BLCI, BOHECO I, or BOHECO II, we are clustered by “Feeders” and the consumers belonging to these so-called feeders will experience the viciousness of the power disruptions when maintenance work or repair work or whatever technical activity will be undertaken on any of their substations supplying power to your feeder, or when trouble besets the distribution lines. If you check your environment, you will see that these distribution lines are carried by either a wooden structure, concrete or aluminum pole.
But this isn’t the end of it.
If NGCP undertakes maintenance activities of their own towers and wooden/concrete/steel structures carrying their transmission lines – take note of the difference: distribution lines for the BLCI’s, BOHECO I’s, and BOHECO II’s while transmission lines for NGPC’s, we will all experience prolonged power interruptions especially if the work activity affects their major substations. Right then, we will all experience a blackout.
Now, if NGCP substations’ transformers undergo annual preventive maintenance schedules or experience trouble, we aren’t spared as well. We still get the brunt of the power disruptions.
And when our power sources outside of Bohol break for technical reasons or force majeure, we can only rant until our veins burst but with no available alternate power source from inside, we are still left powerless.
So, pray tell, when will this vicious cycle of power interruptions end?
I worked for the power industry for a good twenty years of my young life, so I understand the intricacies and complications but really, the frequent brownouts are abhorrent!
Thus, let’s shatter the glass wall and directly ask our government leaders: What are you doing about this incessant power interruptions? What’s the action of our representatives in congress, executives from the province, and the capital city? What’s the action of the sangguniang panlalawigan; the sangguniang panlungsod?
Are we okay with this scenario just because power supply normalizes after two hours, three hours, six hours, eight hours anyway?
Is this now our new normal?
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The writer hosts Woman Talk with Belinda Sales at 91.1 Balita FM Tagbilaran City every Saturday, 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. She can be reached at belindabelsales@gmail.com. Twitter @ShilohRuthie./PN
