State-run National Electrification Administration is bringing together 10 electric cooperatives to help Palawan Electric Cooperative with its rehabilitation and improve the reliability of its electric services in Palawan.
NEA administrator Edgardo Masongsong announced over the weekend the creation of a task force that would speed up the rehabilitation of the power distribution system of Paleco.
Task Force Kapatid Paleco will be composed of 10 electric cooperatives from Luzon and the Visayas. Each electric cooperative will deploy six technical personnel with boom trucks and necessary equipment and logistics to aid Paleco in undertaking rehabilitation activities of power lines within its coverage area.
“The rehabilitation of Paleco will start in the second week of August. We are sending 10 electric cooperatives to form part of the task force,” Masongsong said.
The 10 electric cooperatives are Batangas Electric Cooperative I, Batangas Electric Cooperative 2, First Laguna Electric Cooperative, Aklan Electric Cooperative, Antique Electric Cooperative, Capiz Electric Cooperative, Iloilo II Electric Cooperative and Cebu Electric Cooperative I, II and III.
NEA deputy administrator for technical services Artis Nikki Tortola said the task force would start the rehabilitation works in Palawan on Aug. 16 and would stay in the province for at least three months.
Tortola said the decision to send a task force to Palawan followed a meeting on July 23 between NEA officials and Paleco acting general manager Nelson Lalas and board chairman Jeffrey Tan-Endriga.
“One of the issues [that came out during the meeting] was the problem of Palawan in power reliability. So it was decided that Task Force Kapatid will be sent to Palawan to assist the electric co-op in the rehabilitation of their system, line clearing, repair and protection, including the transfer of poles affected by the DPWH’s road-widening projects, among other things,” the NEA deputy administrator said.
NEA assigned Lalas as project supervisor and acting general manager of Paleco in December last year to oversee the power distribution utility’s operations and ensure the efficient delivery of electric services to its consumers.
Lalas, in his assessment of the power situation in Palawan, earlier attributed the frequent power interruptions/reliability issues in the province to a number of factors such as vegetation problem and lack of acceptable dispatch protocol in the generation, transmission and distribution systems.
Results of the performance audit and assessment conducted by the Energy Department’s Task Force Paleco also cited the inadequate coordination of the protection system of the EC and National Power Corp.’s distribution lines, overloaded substations, vegetation obstruction and the slow coordination and assistance among various government agencies on line maintenance and improvements.
Paleco is the lone power distributor in Puerto Princesa City and the towns of Aborlan, Narra, Brooke’s Point, Sofronio Espanola, Cuyo, Magsaysay, Quezon, Roxas, Taytay, El Nido, Araceli, San Vicente, Bataraza, Rizal, Balabac, Cagayancillo, Agutaya and Dumaran.