ILOILO CITY – Residents of this city, Iloilo province, and the island-province of Guimaras will not have a convenient and easy Sunday as the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines will impose a 12-hour blackout in these areas to conduct maintenance activities.

In an advisory, the power interruption is scheduled from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., affecting distributors MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) in Iloilo City, the Iloilo Electric Cooperative (ILECO I) in Leganes, Cabatuan, Bolong, San Miguel, Oton, Tigbauan, Guimbal, Miag-ao, and San Joaquin towns; and Guimaras Electric Cooperative (GUIMELCO) in the municipalities of Jordan, Buenavista, Nueva Valencia, San Lorenzo, and Sibunag.
“There will be reconfiguration of the Santa Barbara-Miagao/Santa Barbara-Power Barge/Ingore 69 kilovolt (kV) lines in preparation for the upcoming energization of the new 100 megavolt-amperes (MVA) mobile transformer at Santa Barbara Substation which will provide additional capacity,” the NGCP said.
Residents and businesses in Iloilo, Guimaras, and the rest of Panay Island have been suffering from recurring long-term power blackouts since the New Year.
A four-day blackout occured in Panay Island from January 2 to 5.
The Department of Energy (DOE) has called on the NGCP to upgrade its facilities as systems operator.