BENECO RESTORES POWER TO 90% OF BAGUIO, BENGUET AREAS

August 3, 2024 Provincial

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet

The Benguet Electric Cooperative is working quickly to repair or replace damaged facilities caused by the recent Typhoon Carina and the enhanced Southwest monsoon. BENECO officials, linemen and other personnel are
working overtime to restore power in the different areas of Baguio City and Benguet which are without power during the height of the Typhoon Carina on July 23 to 25, 2024. BENECO reported that as of 12 noon on Friday, July 26,
2024, the cost of damage to its distribution utility jumped from P2.6 million as of 800 AM, to more than P3 million.

Network Services Department (NSD) manager Ramel Rifani said during the assessment meeting with members of the BENECO Disaster Mitigating Emergency Response Plan committee members that reports started to pour in on Friday morning from other Benguet municipalities like Bakun and other areas which was isolated due to the lack of
telecommunication signal. As of 8:00AM on Friday, the BENECO was able to restore power to 96.42 percent of its
consumers for both Baguio and Benguet. Unfortunately, power went down again to 90.32percent at around 11:00AM following the landslide incident along the Halsema Highway particularly at KM 25, Caliking in Atok, Benguet.

The landslide hit one of BENECO primary pole carrying the powerlines from the Atok Substation to the municipalities covered by Circuit 1. The whole municipality of Kapangan and several barangays of Tublay, Atok, and
Kibungan towns were without power due to the incident. This was barely a few hours of respite from the heavy rainfall and strong winds due to monsoon caused by the tail end of typhoon Carina, that the cooperative was taking
advantage of to hasten its power restoration in the far-flung and landslide prone municipalities of Benguet.

The towns of Bokod, Buguias, Itogon, Kabayan, La Trinidad, Mankayan, and Sablan’s barangays were 100 percent energized as of 12 noon of July 26. The number of barangays that BENECO has restored power from other municipalities are as follows: Bakun with 3 out of 7 barangays; Kibungan – 3 out of 7; Tuba-12 out of 13. Except for some isolated cases in pockets of some barangays, Baguio City’s 120 out of 129 barangays have power restored. BENECO also dealt with numerous reports of low voltage in Baguio City, it hoped to resolve at the soonest possible time since the weather improved.

BENECO General Manager Melchor Licoben said that the fluctuation in the percentage of consumers restored by the cooperative is highly dependent on the damage reports that BENECO receives. He said there are times that areas reported as restored may again experience power interruption. There are also areas that are reported without power but restoration operations are ongoing just like the case of Circuit 1. Meanwhile, BENECO advises its member-consumer-owners to expect intermittent power outages in the succeeding days due to the restoration efforts in the aftermath of Typhoon Carina and due to the monsoon’s heavy rainfall and strong winds. Emergency power interruption in some areas may also be implemented to facilitate the restoration works needed.

(RMC PIA-CAR)