BENECO, NGCP ensure power for May 13 elections

May 12, 2019 Metro BLISTT

BAGUIO CITY – The Benguet Electric Cooperative (BENECO) and the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGIP) will deploy their respective teams and task force to ensure that the power will be readily available during the 2019 Midterm elections on May 13.
BENECO Institutional Services Department Manager lawyer Delmar Cariño said that the electric cooperative has formed a task force to ensure the integrity of the different facilities of the BENECO particularly on election day.
Cariño said close to 100 linemen, crew and staff with their equipment and tools will be deployed at the different strategic areas to ensure that their facilities such as the lines, posts and transformers will not have any problem that may cause the power interruption on Monday.
“We will dispatch teams to make sure that systems, lines, posts and transformers will not have problems and interruption of power will be averted during the election process on May 13 to 14,” Cariño said.
The linemen and crew are ready to respond to any emergency involving power interruption, he assured. But he calls on the public to be vigilant and report incidents to their hotlines to prevent other problems and for quick response.
BENECO Consumer assistance can be contacted thru 637-4400 to 637-4499, 09088657202, 09175921698 and 09175807814 for the Abatan BENECO office.
Meanwhile, the NGCP will activate the 24/7 operations of its Overall Command Center from May 12 to 14, 2019 as part of its preparations to secure power transmission operations and facilities during this year’s national and local elections.
NGCP Corporate Communication and Public Affairs Officer Melma Batario said contingency plans are in place to monitor and quickly address any grid disturbance.
Even as May 13 has been declared a special non-working day, NGCP’s critical units such as System Operations and Operations and Maintenance remain fully staffed and operational.
Line crews, engineers, pilots, maintenance and testing, and other technical personnel are also strategically positioned in NGCP substations to respond to line tripping that may occur.
“NGCP’s Integrated Disaster Action Plan (IDAP) prescribes these and other measures to ensure the readiness of all power transmission facilities to be affected by emergencies or important national events. With its security and contingency preparations set, NGCP can ensure reliable power transmission services before, during, and after the election date,” NGCP said in a statement.
For Baguio City and Benguet, NGCP will be activating four teams that will be deployed in the strategic areas.
For queries, NGCP hotline is 09178791505.
 
JDP/RMC- PIA CAR)/ABN