Electricity has been restored to 98 percent of consumers affected by the recent typhoons in Albay, while restoration work continues to the remaining households still without power in the province, the National Electrification Administration (NEA) said.
Based on the monitoring of the NEA Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Department as of Thursday (January 21), the Albay Electric Cooperative, Inc. (ALECO) reported that it had fully restored power to 170,560 out of the 197,878 affected households.
Albay and Catanduanes were among the provinces in the Bicol Region heavily affected by Super Typhoon Rolly and Typhoon Ulysses in November 2020. These provinces were also hit by Typhoon Quinta in October 2020.
ALECO, which is presently being managed and operated by Albay Power and Energy Corp. (APEC), said the restoration of 2,755 households is ongoing, while 24,563 houses cannot be reconnected yet as these were declared totally or partially damaged.
In terms of areas, fully restored were Legazpi City, Ligao City, Camalig, Daraga, Guinobatan, Manito, Polangui, and Santo Domingo; while partially restored were Tabaco City, Rapu-Rapu, Jovellar, Oas, Pio Duran, Bacacay, Libon, Malilipot, Malinao, and Tiwi.
In the province of Catanduanes, the First Catanduanes Electric Cooperative, Inc. (FICELCO) reported that 77.94 percent or 31,591 households that lost service due to recent typhoons got their electricity service back.
Of the 24,067 households still without power, FICELCO said 8,943 are for restoration while the remaining 15,124 houses cannot be restored yet as these were declared totally or partially damaged.
The electric coop said Pandan was already fully restored, while the municipalities of Viga, Caramoan, Panganiban, Virac, Bagamanoc, Bato, Baras, San Miguel, San Andres, and Gigmoto were partially restored.
FICELCO is currently being assisted by the Power Restoration Rapid Deployment (PRRD) Task Force Kapatid in rebuilding and restoring power distribution service to its member-consumer-owners (MCOs).
ALECO, which is presently being managed and operated by Albay Power and Energy Corp. (APEC), said the restoration of 2,755 households is ongoing.
The task force is composed of electric cooperatives from the Bicol Region namely Camarines Sur I Electric Cooperative, Inc. (CASURECO I), Camarines Sur II Electric Cooperative, Inc. (CASURECO II), Camarines Sur III Electric Cooperative, Inc. (CASURECO III), Camarines Sur IV Electric Cooperative, Inc. (CASURECO IV), Sorsogon I Electric Cooperative, Inc. (SORECO I), Sorsogon II Electric Cooperative (SORECO II), Camarines Norte Electric Cooperative, Inc. (CANORECO), and Ticao Island Electric Cooperative, Inc. (TISELCO).
FICELCO recently received P25 million in calamity loan from the NEA for the repair and rehabilitation of its damaged power infrastructure following the onslaught of typhoons Quinta and Rolly last year.
Albay and Catanduanes were among the provinces in the Bicol Region heavily affected by Super Typhoon Rolly and Typhoon Ulysses in November 2020. These provinces were also hit by Typhoon Quinta in October 2020.