Officials of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) and the Negros Oriental II Electric Cooperative (NORECO II) assured on Thursday of stable and uninterrupted power supply during the May 12 midterm polls.

Engineer Felix Vidaure of NGCP said at a Kapihan sa PIA forum that no manual load shedding is expected during the election period following the successful reconductoring of the 69-kilovolt (kV) transmission line in Amlan.

The recent upgrades, which included four weekends of planned power outages, now allow the line to carry a larger load, especially to meet the growing demand in Dumaguete City.

“With the replacement, we can cater to an additional load that will absorb the Amlan-Dumaguete 69kV transmission line,” Vidaure said.

The reconductoring addressed the rising power demand, especially in this capital city, which resulted in the Amlan 69kV line being pushed to a critical status.

Although the reconductoring is just a stop-gap measure until a more permanent solution is in place, the NGCP assured that there will be no more power interruptions before, during, and after the elections.

Department of Energy’s (DOE) Circular 2018-050014 mandates power utilities to “suspend maintenance and testing works on substation facilities/transmission lines one week before and after election day, except in extreme emergency cases”.

Vidaure revealed some of NGCP’s election contingency measures in Negros, such as manpower deployment at its substations on election day.

Meanwhile, NORECO II General Manager Fe Marie Dicen said they have begun coordinating with schools designated as polling places to ensure readiness for the vote-counting machines.

NORECO II is also working closely with local electricians, police, and military for emergency support and facility security.

NGCP engineers added that in case of power plant failure in Negros, backup can be drawn from other Visayas or Mindanao grids. (PNA)