ILOILO CITY—At least 300 kilometers of illegal wirings were seized when new power utility More Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) beefed up its iKonek campaign, which aims to curb electricity pilferage in this city.
“This is the accumulated wires seized for a period of a month,” said MORE Power’s iKonek Chief Ariel Castañeda.
Since July 27, MORE Power has been doing ground work to get rid of illegal power connections while urging local residents to apply legally.
“Despite our efforts to reach out, there are those who are not cooperating and still find ways and means to illegally connect again,” Castañeda told Manila Bulletin in explaining why they seized the wirings.
These illegal connectors or more popularly known as “jumpers” have caused system loss, overloading and occasional fire incidents.
So far, MORE Power has operated in 156 of 180 barangays in the districts of Arevalo, City Proper, Jaro, La Paz, Lapuz, Mandurriao, and Molo.
The wirings seized, which was estimated to have a gross weight of 10 tons, have been segregated by district and will be used in court as evidence against those facing charges for electricity pilferage.
Engineering firm MIESCOR Engineering Corp. previously found that there may have been 30,000 jumpers when Panay Electric Co. (PECO) was still the city’s power distributor.