Zamboanga City villages brace for 8-hour blackout

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Sept. 17, 2010) – The local electric cooperative on Friday announced an eight-hour blackout in several areas to allow maintenance work on a 69 kilovolt line in Zamboanga City in Mindanao.

Reinerio Ramos, general manager of the Zamboanga City Electric Cooperative, said the power interruption would start at 8 a.m. on Sunday and would end at 5 p.m. in areas which draw electricity from the San Roque powerhouse.

He said the repair is necessary and maintenance workers would replace an old wooden pole of Structure No. 6. “The shut-off schedule will also give ample time for the replacement of broken insulators on Structures Nos. 13 and 16 and the armoring of conductor between Structures No. 1 and 2,” Ramos said.

He said the work is part of regular transmission line maintenance for this year which is being undertaken by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines.

“Please bear with us during this power interruption. This work is being done to upgrade the NGCP power system for safe energy delivery to our cooperative,” he said. (With a report from Jung Francisco)