The entire city of Iloilo experienced a “total [power] blackout” on Thursday evening, July 9.

Power distributor MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) said the unscheduled outage was due to the “tripping of Sta. Barbara – Iloilo 138 kV (kilovolt) lines 1 and 2.”

The blackout occurred at 9:21 p.m. Electricity was restored in majority of MORE Power’s franchise areas after more or less two hours.

Aside from the city, areas covered by the Iloilo Electric Cooperative (ILECO I), Antique Electric Cooperative (ANTECO), and Guimaras Electric Company (GUIMELCO) were also hit by the power outage.

“We are still coordinating with and waiting for updates from NGCP (National Grid Corporation of the Philippines) regarding their restoration activities. Heavy rainfall is currently experienced in the area,” ILECO I said in a statement.

NGCP, the company that operates power transmission facilities, has yet to issue an official statement regarding the tripping incident.IMT

Photo by RMN-Iloilo