Press Secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr. said the situation is “very disturbing” but the government cannot do much until the rented generators from the Singapore office of the U.K.-based Aggreko International Power Projects Ltd. arrive here in September.
“We have a very serious problem with our [power plants]. Everybody knows that. That’s why we’re looking forward to the arrival of Aggreko generators,” he told Variety in a phone interview yesterday.
Aggreko shipped the 15 megawatts generators on Aug. 8 and the machines are expected to arrive within 30 days.
Once they arrive, CUC and Aggreko have at least six days to install them before they could generate electricity for distribution to consumers through CUC’s power lines.
Reyes said the shipment could have been expedited.
“It should have been here a month ago but there was too much political bickering,” he said.
On Friday, power supply went on and off for several hours in Garapan, Gualo Rai, Koblerville, San Antonio, Susupe and Dandan.
Residents along Beach Road in Garapan lost their power supply on Friday night and it wasn’t turned on until past 3 a.m. of Saturday.
On Saturday, their ordeal continued as electricity also went on and off throughout the day.
The Joeten Shopping Center in Susupe put up a sign outside their store: “Sorry, we’re closed due to power outage.”
A cashier said their store normally had a back-up generator but that day, it didn’t work.
The nearby Ace Hardware also had to brieftly close due to the blackout.
Some of its customers were forced to return the goods they wanted to purchase because the cash registers were down.
Manual receipts weren’t any help because the money for change was locked inside the cash registers.
Remittance centers like the Philippine National Bank and the LBC were also affected.
And so was the Joeten Kiyu Public Library and other nearby establishments.
In Garapan, a group of mothers was heard cursing CUC for the constant blackouts.
They said their children were forced to play outside of their homes because of the heat.
“It’s dark inside and it’s hot so we just let them play outside even if it’s night time,” one of them said.
“What the hell are we paying CUC double for, if we can’t get electricity? This is just too much,” another one said.
A grandmother who works for the government said their family is forced to have dinner early in the evening because of the load shedding.
“Now, we’re having fish. If we eat later, we can’t see the bones. CUC is just too much,” she said.
