Meralco says there’s ‘ample’ power supply despite recent outages

Hundreds of Meralco customers have experienced power outages the past several days for various reasons including a surge in demand during the hot season, the company said.

Meralco spokesperson Joe Zaldarriaga told GMA News that in the last five days alone, 315 customers have been affected.

"Tila nagkaroon ng surge in demand. Unang-una kasi, napakainit ng panahon. So maraming mga kababayan natin ang gumagamit ng mga cooling devices, particularly air conditioning units," he said.

He added that the enhanced community quarantine, a measure against the spread of COVID-19, is another factor.

"Plus, since lahat nasa bahay ngayon, mataas yung demand from the residential segment. And 'yung mga facilities natin, particularly 'yung mga transformers at ang mga linya, napapansin namin may instances na nagkakaroon ng tinatawag na overload. This is unprecedented,” Zaldarriaga said.

Other causes of the power outages are illegal service connections and kites flown near power lines.

The latter cause has been the reason for power outages experienced by 1.8 million customers and 33 hospitals since the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine.

Zaldarriaga, however, added that that there is “ample” supply of electricity, particularly as many commercial and industrial establishments are closed.

“We have ample supply because as you know, 'yung commercial and industrial establishments are either closed or on skeletal operations. But the facilities serving the residential areas, 'yan ang nagkakaroon ng instances ng overload,” he said. — BM, GMA News