10-hour daily rotating power outage in CDO bared By Cris Diaz

By Cris Diaz

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, May 15 (PNA) -– The Cagayan De Oro Electric Power and Light Company (CEPALCO) on Thursday released a new rotating power outage schedule in this trading hub of Northern Mindanao starting May 15 until May 21.

CEPALCO has divided the entire Cagayan De Oro district into two major power shedding feeders – each group would experience a total daily alternate 10-hour power outage starting 8:00 a.m. until 10:30 in the evening.

This means that areas under Feeder 1 will have brownout from 8:00 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. while areas belonging to Feeder 2 will have brownout from 11:30 a.m.until 3:00 p.m.and back to Feeder 1 from 3:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.before changing to Feeder 2 brownout out from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.

The two groups will alternate the daily brownout – for instance, the brownout on Thursday morning started in areas assigned under Feeder 1. On the following day, a Friday, the areas under Feeder 2 will start the brownout in the morning, followed by Feeder 1 at noon until the afternoon.

However, CEPALCO advised residents in Cagayan De Oro City to not rely on the scheduled brownout since the power supply would always depend on the power allocation extended by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) which changes every hour.

“Most of the time, the brownout in Cagayan De Oro City extends beyond the schedule because of the NGCP allocation,” an official from the CEPALCO, the lone power distributor here said.

In the notice of power interruptions, CEPALCO said that the “actual switch-off, and switch on” of the power supply would change without prior notice.

CEPALCO said that the continuing power interruption in Cagayan De Oro City was due to shortage of power allocation supplied by the NGCP.

Cagayan De Oro City needs 140 megawatt daily to ensure a continued supply of power. In contrast, the NGCP provides only 30 to 38 megawatt power supply daily, CEPALCO said. (PNA)

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