MANKAYAN, Benguet – The Benguet Electric Cooperative (BENECO) disclosed that it will be able to restore the power sup-ply of more or less eight thousand member-consumers who are currently experiencing a prolonged power outage due to the heavy damage inflicted by Tropical Storm Betty to the cooperatives 10mva substation in barangay Bulalacao here on or before June 15, 2023.
BENECO Acting General Manager Art Bacoco claimed that the 10mva power transformer that was borrowed by BENECO from the nearby Ilocos Sur Electric Cooperative (ISECO) already arrived at the electric cooperative’s Bulalacao substation and technical personnel are now working double time to test and commission the same the earliest possible time.
He added that if the testing and commissioning of the borrowed transformer will go on smoothly, power for the affected areas of Mankayan, Buguias, Kabayan and Bokod might be restored on or before June 15 or more than 2 weeks after the 10mva Bulalacao substation was heavily damaged by the wrath of Tropical Storm Betty mast May 30 and 31.
Bacoco expressed the gratitude of the whole BENECO family to ISECO for approving its request to borrow their 10mva transformer as it is the most feasible way to immediately restore power for the affected consumers while the electric cooperative is working on the procurement of a similar transformer for the said substation.
Earlier, BENECO requested the assistance of ISECO for the former to borrow its available 10mva transformer to be used as a temporary replacement for the damaged transformer in its Bulalacao transformer following the recent wrath of Tropical Storm Betty.
Bacoco said that BENECO technical personnel were able to restore power in almost all of the areas within its franchise area in Baguio and Benguet which were affected by the weather disturbance except for the consumers serviced by the 10mva Bulalacao substation.
Bacoco revealed that BENECO suffered more or less P7 million worth of damages to its power distribution system during the wrath of tropical Storm Betty where the biggest damage was incurred by the 10mva Bulalacao substation initially valued at more or less P3.5 million.
He also commended the BENECO technical personnel for working round the clock to ensure the immediate restoration of power supply during and after the wrath of the weather disturbance as they continue to display their passion and dedication to render public service to the consumers even in difficult situations, saying that such work attitude is worthy of emulation.
The BENECO officials appealed to the affected consumers for their patience and understanding on the electric cooperative’s inability to restore power in their homes because of the need to conduct the testing and commissioning of the borrowed transformer to ensure that it will be fully operational before it will be able to distribute the power to them to avoid unnecessary incidents that might worsen the situation in the future.
He assured that BENECO is doing its best to address the current situation so that power in the affected areas will be restored the soonest for the benefit of the increasing number of consumers in Buguias, Mankayan, Bokod and Kabayan areas where the more than 8,000 consumers who are still without power are situated.
