Pagadian City - Zamboanga Del Sur News and Information

THE ZAMBOANGA del Sur Electric Cooperative (Zamsureco-I) said it reels from the continued power curtailment brought about by El Niño, an abnormal weather pattern that triggers severe drought.Anastacio Autor, Zamsureco-I technical service manager said in an interview

that although the electric cooperative lives with the present electricity challenge as a natural occurrence, it also had to deal with the negative economic implications brought by the continued brownouts.

Autor disclosed that from Feb. 1 to 23, a total of 178.81 megawatts, which is equivalent to 357.66 hours or a total of 421,259.50 kilowatt hours were lost by Zamsureco.

This kilowatt hours lost by Zamsureco when converted in monetary terms will total to more or less P2.5-million, depending on how much the rates National Power Corporation will charge or adjust to the electric cooperative, also said Charina Arabijo, Zamsureco finance manager.

In 2006, during the widespread brownouts attributed to huge demand for electricity and antiquity of power plants in the country, Zamsureco incurred a total loss of about P5-million, Arabijo added.

The entire coverage of Zamsureco-I has a total capacity load of 15 to 16 MW and at present is allocating less than half of its total load following the implementation of power curtailment imposed by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).

So far, only Mindanao is suffering from serious power shortage as a result of a dry spell, raising fears that this could put at risk the coming automated elections in May.

But small businesses in Pagadian, those that depend entirely on electricity, do not care about the May elections at the moment, saying the worsening power situation is killing them softly, reducing their income to more or less 50 percent.

“Sa una maka-gross ko ug P1,200 ang adlaw unya maka net income na ko ug P500, pero karon P250 to P300 na lang akong mahimo gumikan sa brown out,” Jun Acot, who sells ice candy and ice water for a living said.

“We used to produce 600 gallons a day but now we can only produce 200 to 300 gallons at P50 per gallon,” likewise said Bobby Soriano, owner of Crystal Clear water refilling Station.

Soriano said he has contemplated of buying a generator to boost their power supply needs but aside from the high gas price, he said that water supply is also a problem since the water district relies mainly on Zamsureco to pump water from its springs.

Last week, the Pagadian City Water District (PCWD) declared the dry spell also affected water supply in their water sources in Brgys. Danlugan and Manga.