Meralco warns of power outages

Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 10:02:00 04/23/2009

MANILA, Philippines—The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the country’s biggest power distribution utility, has warned of “unavoidable localized and isolated power outages” because of a significant increase in electricity usage this summer.

The surge in electricity demand may lead to systems overload and breakdowns, Meralco said in a statement.

“Although Meralco regularly upgrades and maintains its facilities so these operate in the best condition, there may be instances when some areas within the franchise may experience some power interruptions caused by circumstances beyond its control,” said Nixon Hao, head of energy management.

It said power interruptions could occur when Meralco resorts to automatic load dropping (ALD), that is, loads in certain areas are shed automatically to cope with a sudden outage of a powerplant.

Automatic load dropping is aimed at stabilizing the system during unforeseen outages of power plants, Meralco said.

With the increased electricity demand during the summer coupled with maintenance outages of some power plants, automatic load dropping would be unavoidable, the company said.

Joe Zaldarriaga, external communications manager, said electricity consumption rises during the summer as customers have more use for cooling appliances like air-conditioners, refrigerators, freezers, electric fans and water pumps to cope with the heat.

“Vacationing students would be staying home and can be expected to use more electricity, spending their free time with entertainment appliances like television sets, video game consoles and computers,” he added.

Meralco said customers should conserve and use electricity wisely not just to reduce their consumption but also to avoid system overloading.

Electricity conservation measures include the proper cleaning and maintenance of appliances to make them work more efficiently, the use of compact fluorescent lights, and the systematic planning and usage of flat irons, air-conditioners and refrigerators.
Meralco also suggested that consumers monitor and check their power usage through the Meralco Appliance Calculator (MAC) at the Meralco website (www.meralco.com.ph) and at leading appliance stores.

MAC is a computer-aided program which computes the rate of consumption of the most common household appliances.

Amy R. Remo

Original article taken from Inquirer.net