PARADOXICAL

Brownout Woes: When Will They Ever End?

"May kuryente na!"
.
.
.
"Praktis lang."

I attempted to post this as a prank a few hours into the 12-hour power outage by Cenpelco today.

Beside joking, I also just wanted to check whether I could post on FB even though there's a brownout using just my phone. Result? No go. Even with data.

Such a long power interruption is something I have never experienced in my 25 years of living in Metro Manila. ...Except when an extra-strong supertyphoon named 'Milenyo' hit us there.

Certainly not on a semiregular basis. But it is a normal occurrence here ever since I was here in 1976. People since then have been calling the provider CENPELCO 'Cenpultot,' with "pultot" meaning "putol" or "cut off."

The big difference now is there is a prior announcement on social media. And there are generators in big establishments like malls where residents spend the long hours of outage to avail of free air conditioning. Actually it's not free--considering gasoline expense and a milk tea or two at a given stand or more while whiling away the hours.

Another breakthrough locally is the Municipio's issuance of generators to every barangay where residents can avail of free charging--free of charge.

Another local government and private sector initiative is going solar, which gives so much hope to long-suffering residents inured to sudden and longish outages.

All-day-long power blackouts may be seen in an extra-positive way as a welcome distraction from electronic gadgets and office work, in favor of sunlight, fresh air, gardening, other hobbies enjoyed at one's own pace, manual labor or puttering around the house, and the like. And a substantial cut in cost in one's monthly bill too.

But we all know what this kind of interruption bring to business owners: a sudden halt in their operations, particularly everything that uses up electricity.

Weighing the pros and cons, I am of the opinion that power outages are mostly undesirable. I can avail of all the abovementioned benefits even with the lights on. Brownouts or power blackouts are particularly undesirable for those with asthma (like my father before) and other patients dependent on medical equipment that need to be plugged in, those who have stocked up on frozen goods, and other various circumstances.

Let's not forget that outages have domino effect in these parts. On top of unbearable darkness and humidity inside our homes, it also means the danger posed by the sudden use of candles for illumination, faucets that run out of water, and landlines with no dial tone. Lastly, no investor wants to gamble in a place frequented by outages.

On our art in local government, we are always the first ones being blamed for something that is outside our jurisdiction. A most unfair situation. ...Especially if we have to deal with the mounting anger of thousands of residents over a 45-minute delay in the promised restoration of power at 6:00 PM today.

If there's anyone who longs for quick and creative solutions the most--now, and not tomorrow--that's us.

I know there are two wars going on affecting our power supply and the cost of providing it. But this problem has been there for so long it seems to have become long accepted as normal part of our provincial lives. And I know that our provider is not always solely to blame. There are times that it is NGCP that is at issue.

At this point, I wonder if it is too much to ask, "Let's not normalize power outages, please?" "Not to mention high costs of electric consumption (one of the things that keep our people poor)?" These things are not acceptable.

posted by Resty Odon  # 4:31 AM