CEBU CITY – The Visayan Electric Co. (VECO) targets to restore power supply in some parts of Metro Cebu by December 31, and light up some 142,000 homes in the area which was devastated by the fury of Typhoon Odette.
Regional Development Council (RDC-7) chairman Kenneth Cobonpue said based VECO estimates it will be able to restore power in 30% of its service before year-end. VECO, a subsidiary of Aboitiz Power, is Cebu’s largest power distributor.
Cobonpue said such output in the post-Typhoon Odette power restoration efforts “would mean 12,000 additional families every single day in the next few days will finally be able to find consolation once again as power and light returns to their homes in time for New Year’s Eve.”
The RDC-7 chair said all 474,000 customers under VECO’s service area is projected to have their electricity restored by end of January 2022.
As of December 26, VECO had restored 251 of the total 544 power line segments or 46 percent of its franchise area, now providing 69.97-megawatt of daily power to 81,660 customer households.
Cobonpue said “to help alleviate the devastating impact of Odette on homes and businesses alike, the Energy Regulation Commission (ERC) has directed the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines and the local power companies to forego disconnection of power supply to delinquent customers and allow them more time to recover from their current difficult situation.”
He admitted that fixing the power lines destroyed by Odette and restoring internet connection in many Metro Cebu areas is not a simple task.
“Unless the naysayers among us have been able to personally oversee the repair and restoration of 8,990 kilometers of power line cables across the entire island of Cebu (to put things in perspective, the distance from Aparri to Jolo via the Western Nautical Highway is only 2,130 kilometers), perhaps it would be best for us to refrain from thinking so derogatorily of the tremendous sacrifices and selfless commitment that so many men and women around us in the Public and Private Sectors have given in the past 10 days,” he stressed.