The Department of Energy (DOE), through its Task Force on Energy Resiliency (TFER), has mobilized the country’s power firms so probable power interruptions or blackout impact of tropical storm ‘Pepito” could be eased if not totally avoided in various parts of the country.

Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi said the TFER already started monitoring and alerting all stakeholders in the energy sector, so that the energy facilities along the path of the anticipated weather disturbance could be accorded with the necessary contingency measures and action plans.

By the same token, the DOE chief asked the oil companies “to secure the prescribed fuel inventory levels and protect consumers against delays in the delivery of energy services, most especially in areas heavily dependent on gasoline and diesel for their daily activities.”

The track of the typhoon has been monitored to hurtle through the provinces of Isabela and Aurora areas, where it would be making its first landfall on the evening of Tuesday (October 20); and will sweep through Aurora-Northern Quezon domains on the early morning of October 21 (Wednesday).

As of 1:00 pm on Tuesday, system operator National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) reported that all of its transmission lines and facilities are still “under normal operations.”

On the part of the electric cooperatives (ECs), the National Electrification Administration (NEA) has ordered all power utilities under its charge “to make the necessary preparations,” prior to the landfall of the storm.

The agency’s disaster risk reduction and management department (DRRMD) primarily directed the ECs “to activate their respective emergency response organization when the need arises to implement without delay the appropriate emergency response plans.”

NEA emphasized all of the ECs had been advised to monitor the weather updates and bulletins being issued by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), so they can also adjust contingency plans in case the storm intensifies in some parts of the country.

In the strike of calamities, primarily typhoons, it is often the power facilities that are getting smacked – and such would often result in unwanted electricity service interruptions to consumers.

With storm signals raised in many provinces in Luzon for tropical storm ‘Pepito’, it is seen that ensuring the continuous power service of the ECs would be highly critical, because it will be utterly harsh to let people suffer the double whammy of a natural disaster and blackouts.

Thus, NEA is pulling the strings for ECs to “ensure that appropriate contingency measures are in place to mitigate the possible impact of the weather disturbance on their electric services to consumers.”