SP CONDUCTS LEGISLATIVE INQUIRY ON POWER OUTAGES IN AFFECTED LUECO SERVICE AREAS
By: Sangguniang Panlalawigan | Photos By: SP | Date: December 3-10, 2021
The Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) Committee on Environment, Energy, Human Ecology and Security, together with the SP Committee on Public Works and Utilities, and SP Committee on Laws, Rules, and Privileges conducted a Joint Committee Hearing relative to the consecutive power outages in affected La Union Electric Company (LUECO) service areas which occurred on December 3-10, 2021.
Presided by Hon. Abraham P. Rimando, Chairperson of the SP Committee on Environment, Energy, Human Ecology and Security, said committee hearing was attended by the affected consumers, represented by Ms. Cristina Antonio; Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) Representatives Atty. Rannie Maatubang and Atty. Gregorio Ofalsa; and Engr. Gabriel Fernandez, representative from LUECO.
LUECO gave a comprehensive presentation on the outages that occurred last December. They stated that the power outage was due to breakdown of the transformer that needs rehabilitation or replacement, thus the need to shutdown electric power so that workers could perform their task of replacing the said transformer.
On the other hand, Atty. Greg Ofalsa, ERC’s Director of Consumer Affairs Service, discussed their rules and regulations pertaining to the outages and the granting of damages. He mentioned that the ERC requires all the distribution utilities to conduct a regular scheduled and unscheduled maintenance of their facilities and that there should be sufficient notices to consumers. He further stated that the Commission is not authorized to direct the distribution utilities to award damages or rebates to their consumers.
The Joint Committee recommended LUECO and its Board that a considerable amount of rebate should be given to affected businesses and homeowners as part of their corporate social responsibility especially during this time of pandemic where businesses and households are equally negatively affected. An SP resolution was passed to urge the company to comply and give rebates to their consumers.
Moreover, improvement on their customer service hotlines and intensive information dissemination on power outage notices was strongly recommended. The committee shall follow up the action taken by LUECO on the above requests and shall resume talks if needed.
