With brownouts, residents to navigate floods in the dark

Parts of Pasig City and Rizal province, including some areas still flooded, will experience rotating brownouts starting Thursday, after a power transformer of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) exploded Wednesday night, plunging a vast swath of the eastern side of the metropolis into darkness. Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) external communications manager Joe Zaldarriaga said Thursday that at least four circuits still have no power due to the shutdown of the NGCP transformer. "Gagawin natin diyan ang rotating interruptions, para ma-accommodate ang mga naapektuhan at ang mga di pa nababalikan, magro-rotate tayo in terms of customers natin (We will have rotating brownouts in the areas that are still affected)," Zaldarriaga said in an interview on dzBB radio. But he could not immediately say how long the rotating brownouts would last, saying they are still working out the schedules. Zaldarriaga said the power trouble started about 9 p.m. Wednesday after an NGCP transformer at the NGCP delivery point in Dolores in Taytay, Rizal was shut down due to an explosion. [See: Transformer blast cuts power in parts of NCR and Rizal]

He said the affected transformer supplies power to 11 Meralco substations that service eastern Metro Manila. GMA News' mid-morning Flash Report said that areas that would be affected by the five-to-six hours power outages are Quezon City, particularly Sikatuna and Teachers Village; the cities of Makati, Marikina, Mandaluyong, Pasig, and some areas in the province of Rizal. For now, Zaldarriaga said, Meralco has shifted its power loads, getting power from other NGCP delivery points in Sucat, Araneta and Zapote to supply power to the affected areas. Despite this, he said there is still not enough power for Taytay town and parts of the municipalities of Angono and Binangonan in Rizal. He added that the Taguig circuit affected the Pinagbuhatan, Raymundo, San Miguel, Tipas, Sagad and Napindan areas in Pasig City. Earlier reports said the areas initially affected included San Juan and other parts of Metro Manila , including Meralco Center, and the towns of Cainta and Antipolo in Rizal - GMANews.TV