More Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) moves to prevent power outage incidents in Iloilo City while a modernization program is in progress with the installation of a looping system of the 69-kilovolt (kV) sub-transmission facility.
As part of the company’s three-year modernization program, MORE Power said the looping system will provide backup power supply whenever it conducts preventive maintenance and repairs of the five substations in the city.
MORE Power Chief Operating Officer and President Roel Z. Castro explained that a loop system rings through the service area and returns to the original point. The loop is usually tied to an alternate power source. By placing switches in strategic locations, MORE Power can supply power to the customer from either direction and minimizes outages, Castro said.
The company’s modernization program is worth P1.8 billion. Part of this is the replacement of more than 130 transformers that were previously installed by Panay Electric Co. (Peco). So far, MORE Power has replaced over 100 wooden electric poles with concrete ones.
MORE Power started its upgrade of the dilapidated facilities and equipment of the city’s distribution system as soon as it took over its operations from Peco.
Castro said unscheduled and unannounced power outages can be attributed to the combination of high pilferage and unreliability of the old equipment. “But we assure our consumers of immediate response to these unexpected brownouts so we can hasten the restoration of supply.”
So far, MORE Power has completed the repairs of the Jaro, City Proper and La Paz substations since last month. The remaining two substations will undergo the same works in the coming weeks, added Castro.
Apart from correcting the load demand of each substation, the improvements will also prepare the distribution system for the growing demand for power in the next five to 10 years, Castro said.
MORE Power is also expecting the arrival of a 10MVA mobile substation that will be used to augment the capacity of the overloaded substations.
The old transformers that were installed by Peco have been replaced to avoid explosions that could lead to widespread and unexpected brownouts in the city, Castro said.
MORE Power is also addressing the problem of jumpers or illegal connections, which overload the distribution system. Castro said illegal connections do not just burden legitimate consumers who pay for stolen electricity by way of the so-called systems loss but it also takes toll on the system as they are never included in the demand profile of Iloilo City.
“We already streamlined the application of new connections in coordination with the local government so that more jumpers, particularly informal settlers, will be enticed to apply for connections. Aside from that, most of the jumpers found out that they will pay less for their supply because we reduced to rates to at least P9 per kilowatt-hour compared to P20 per kilowatt-hour they paid to individuals who perpetuate the illegal connections,” Castro added.
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