By Myrna Velasco

Power interruptions across grids happened at the thick of the voting process on May 13, according to information furnished to the media by the National Electrification Administration.

The electrification agency qualified though that the “short-lived brownouts” in some provinces had been “localized” or just confined within an area, and not due to supply-demand conditions.

“Most of the service interruptions observed were due to ‘transient faults’ or momentary disturbances in the electric power distribution system,” NEA said.

It added that the power outages occurred within the duration of the scheduled 12-hour voting period for millions of Filipinos in the country’s mid-term elections.

Nevertheless, NEA Power Task Force Election team leader Ferdinand Villareal qualified that “these electrical faults were immediately addressed by the concerned electric cooperatives.”

The array of technical problems encountered that caused the power interruptions at distribution level include busted fuse, tripping of distribution transformers as well as damaged poles and insulators.

The areas in Luzon that were strained with “temporary brownouts,” as monitored by the NEA had been those in Abra, Albay, Batangas, Batanes, Cagayan, Camarines Sur, Ilocos Sur, La Union, Masbate, Nueva Ecija, Palawan, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Tablas Island and Zambales.

In the Visayas, the provinces that experienced momentary electricity service disruptions had been Aklan, Antique, Bohol, Capiz, Cebu, Iloilo, Leyte, Negros Oriental, Northern Samar, Samar, Eastern Samar, Siquijor and Southern Leyte.

Mindanao areas had been similarly obstructed with brief power outages, chiefly those in Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Bukidnon, Camiguin, Cotabato, Davao del Norte, Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Misamis Occidental, Misamis Oriental, Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Zamboanga City, Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur.

NEA indicated it will continue to monitor operations of the country’s 121 electric cooperatives as tallying of votes are still ongoing by May 14 in a number of areas and canvassing centers.

On the transmission side of the power system, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) reported that everything had been on “normal condition” throughout election day.

The Department of Energy (DOE) similarly emphasized that supply had been enough during the poll period, despite the fact that some plants were still on forced outages or had been de-rated on their generation capability. (MMV)