Visayan Electric Power Recovery Reaches 98%

ATTACHMENT LINES. A lineman from a telecommunications company repairs lines at the Barangay Capitol site in Cebu City on Sunday, February 20, 2022. Typhoon Odette (Rai) as it struck Cebu City on December 16, 2022 damaged or destroyed power and telecommunications lines. / AMPER CAMPAÑA

66 days after Typhoon Odette (Rai) struck Cebu, the Visayan Electric Company reported Sunday, February 20 that it had already powered 98 percent or 463,386 of its affected 474,182 customers.

The utility only needs to restore power to its 10,796 customers scattered throughout its franchise area, which includes the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Talisay and Naga, and the communities of Liloan, Consolacion, Minglanilla and San Fernando.

Talisay City Mayor Gerald Anthony “Samsam” Gullas Jr. said in a Feb. 18 Facebook post that Visayan Electric had restored power to 98 percent of its customers in the city, which has 21 barangays.

Despite delays in the restoration effort, Gullas said his office oversaw and coordinated Visayan Electric, and he said he was grateful to the power distributor and his crew.

Visayan Electric began repairing poles and power lines a day after the onslaught of the typhoon that devastated parts of central and south Cebu on Thursday evening, December 16, 2021. Ten days later, the power distributor promised to fully restore power to its franchise area by January 31. However, this did not work.

In a statement released earlier this month, Visayan Electric said it was “taking time to bring power to some parts of the franchise due to the extent of damage to the utility’s lines, towers and transformers.”

Raul Lucero, Visayan Electric’s president and chief operating officer, said they “saw the reality of the destruction” when they began working on the sidelines in the interior portions of their franchise area.

The blackout also affected the services of telecom companies and water utilities.

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