(Taguig City.) We will bring back power as fast and as safely as is humanly possible to areas in the Visayas affected by a strong quake that rocked the region.

This was the consensus reached by the energy family under the Department of Energy (DOE), as well as their private sector partners, during an emergency meeting called by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi at the DOE headquarters today.

Cusi assured the public that the DOE and all of its attached instrumentalities and commercial partners are on top of the situation. "We are all working round the clock and all hands are on deck," said Cusi.

According to the Energy Development Corp. (EDC) and Green Core Geothermal, they are providing generator sets in coordination with the local officials of Municipality of Kananga and Ormoc City to critical facilities like municipal halls, hospitals and water districts.

EDC and Green Core said, impact assessment measures are being undertaken at their geothermal power plants.

Based on the technical assessment of the companies, the marshalling stations or the central switching station of Leyte power plants will be restored within 3-5 days to enable importation of power supply from Cebu to the provinces of Leyte, Samar and Bohol.

For transmission, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) is undergoing further assessment of their transmission facilities in determining the specific timeline on the restoration of the damaged facilities.

As of 2:30 p.m., the 138kilovolt (kV) Ormoc-Tongonan T/L near the affected Tongonan Geothermal Power Plant with a power supply capacity of about 35 megawatts (MW) is ready to be energized.

On the distribution side, electric cooperatives (ECs) in Samar and Leyte provinces have no power but most of their facilities sustained no damage. Currently, the ECs are awaiting the powering up of the transmission facilities.

The entire province of Bohol remains without power.

To augment the power supply in the affected provinces, the government, through the DOE, is working with alternative power suppliers, such as Trans Asia and Salcon Power to deploy Power Barges 101, 102, and 103 and the unutilized 16 MW diesel-fired power plants.

To fast track the restoration further, the National Electrification Administration prepared the mechanism for a “quick response fund” to be allocated to ECs with damaged facilities.

The DOE coordinated with the concerned agencies to determine the timelines and other significant details in the deployment of the power barges and dispatching of the diesel power plant.

To supervise these complex yet integrated tasks, Sec. Cusi created a Project Management Team for the earthquake affected areas.

"We are on top of the situation and we will deliver the much-needed energy services immediately," Cusi concluded.

The DOE Central Office and Visayas Field Office (VFO) are open to accommodate inquiries and support from the public through the hotline number ‎‎479-2900 loc. 329 for consumer concerns and ‎‎(032) 253-7222; ‎‎253-2150 for the VFO concerns.

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