THE 13-hour blackout yesterday, September 10, 2022, has halted the businesses in the capital Tagbilaran City and in the entire province of Bohol, prompting those who have gen-sets operated.
But it was learned that not all the towns experienced it. Some had only few hours of power outrage.
The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), which supplies electricity via distribution utilities — the two cooperatives and Bohol Light company Inc. — announced the blackout days before.
The same massive power outrage took place sometime in August this year as the NGCP fixed some of the posts for power connection after the typhoon ‘Odette’ destroyed them.
The 13-hour power outrage started at 6:00 in the morning till six in the evening.
It was not immediately known why the Power Barge 104 moored in Ubay town and the Bohol Diesel Power Plant in the city were not utilized to cushion the impact of the power outrage.
Some homeowners also had to power their homes using their respective gen-sets, reminiscent of few months after the super typhoon ‘Odette’ hit the province on December 16 2021 and the 7.2 magnitude earthquake on October 15, 2013.
Still, Bohol is suffering from unstable and unreliable power supply as it has no island-based power producer yet.
It remains relying on the 100-megawatt geothermal power via the Leyte-Bohol Interconnection passing thru the island town of President Carlos P. Garcia then to mainland, particularly the town of Ubay.
A businessman said that unless Bohol has a stable and reliable power supply, investors may remain “wait-and-see.” (rvo)
