The National Power Corporation (NPC) postponed the previously announced reduction in operational hours in Busuanga this March, expressing expectation for a steady supply until the end of 2023.
Fred Barrios, the manager of NPC Palawan, said, however, that this is still dependent on how their central office manages to procure fuel.
“All reduction of operation was postponed not only to Busuanga. We hope that this postponement will continue until the year-end, (but) it will depend on our management how they have managed to have the funds for the purchase of fuel,” Barrios said in a text message.
In addition, he said the NPC has delayed the reduction of operating hours in mainland communities with the highest usage, such as El Nido and San Vicente.
According to Busuanga Island Electric Cooperative, Inc. (BISELCO), the supposed reduction in electricity operation hours in Busuanga was due to the difficulties experienced by NPC in 2023 funds for fuel procurement. It also stated that it is still waiting for a new notice from the NPC regarding the situation in April.
Coron and Busuanga, on the other hand, are presently suffering load shedding or rotating blackouts as a result of a preventive maintenance program implemented by its private power supplier, Calamian Island Power Company (CIPC). It is the yearly maintenance that ensures the functionality of the generator sets at CIPC, BISELCO provided an explanation in a statement.
The present surge in demand forced CIPC’s supply to BISELCO to go beyond its contracted supply. Due to the electric cooperative employing its reserve supply, load shedding occurred.
CIPC is the power provider of BISELCO after CSP in 2014, to augment the power supply aside from being provided by NPC-SPUG.
On Monday, BISELCO already announced the postponement to its members-consumers-owners (MCOs).
“Nais pong ipaalam ng pamunuan ng BISELCO na ang nakaambang pagbabawas ng oras sa serbisyo ng kuryente kaugnay sa problema tungkol sa kakulangan ng pondo para sa taong 2023 ng National Power Corporation (NPC) ay pansamantalang hindi matutuloy ngayong buwan, Marso 2023,” the power coop said.
“Kaugnay dito, para sa buwan ng Abril 2023, ay hinihintay p adin ng pamunuan ng BISELCO ang panibagong abiso mula sa National Power Corporation,” it added.
BISELCO also reminded that the load shedding or rotational blackouts that Coron and Busuanga are experiencing are due to preventive maintenance schedule that the private power provider CIPC is performing.
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