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Power Crisis Hits Tarlac City

June 17, 2000

TARLAC CITYReminiscent of the power crisis in the early 90s, brownouts have become the citys current problem. Residents experienced a 26-hour power outage over the weekend, probably the longest brownout in recent years, that climaxed a series of almost daily brownouts since May 29.

The Tarlac Electric Incorporated (TEI) explained that the 26-hour brownout was caused by a collapsed electric wooden pole somewhere between Concepcion town and this city that cut off the 69 KV National Power Corp. (Napocor) subtransmission cable.

The first major brownout on May 29 was caused by the breakdown of the 20-ton substation transformer at Maliwalo. Power was restored with the knife-switching using a standby transformer.

TEI said the almost daily brownouts from May 29 to June 12 were caused by automatic power trippings, a self-protecting mechanism taking place whenever there are strong winds and heavy thunderstorms.

Heavy rains also delayed the replacement of the collapsed wooden poles, said TEI substation manager Roy Yutuc. We had to manually carry the heavy wooden pole to the area which is about one kilometer from the highway. The soil has softened due to rains, making the field impassable to our trucks.(

-- Isaac Kliatchko Jr. http://www.manilatimes.net/2000/jun/17/provincial/20000617pro4.html

-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), June 17, 2000