Broken power poles leave Zambo villages with no electricity

A ZAMCELCO photo shows repairmen working on the poles in the village of Putik. 

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Over 100,000 residents in several villages here were without electricity for 24 hours after an old 69kV line steel poles toppled in Barangay Putik last week.

With the poles broken, the Zamboanga City Electric Cooperative (ZAMCELCO) ended up erecting two poles and reconnecting power to several feeders before sunrise on March 9.

Carl Andrew Rubio, a member of the board of directors, who is also the cooperative’s spokesman, repeatedly assured Tuesday afternoon the repair would be completed before dusk, but the works continued until the next day as rains forced workers to stop.

The broken poles at Lorenzo Height Drive in the village of Putik affected several feeders and cut off electricity on March 8 in the villages of Mercedes, Tumaga, Guiwan, Presa, Northside Tetuan, and Arena Blanco whose populations are over 100,000.

“The said location (of the broken poles) is narrow and muddy, which delays the work of our technical team on site. Power will be restored as soon as the necessary work has been 100% completed. We ask for your patience and understanding,” the cooperative said on its Facebook page which was flooded with angry comments and invective from residents.

These photos show the problems of ZAMCELCO. (Images: Al Jacinto)

Cooperative members have largely blamed the ZAMCELCO for its failures to repair broken or dilapidated poles and accused it of overcharging despite the monthly increase in electricity rates. From poor customer service to dilapidated electric meters, and the usual voltage fluctuations and power outages, remain the major complaints of the consumers. And those who received new electric meters were shocked to find their bills increased two fold or more.

Electric consumers have been complaining about the daily voltage fluctuations, saying not a single day passes without a glitch. And all these problems add up to the stress caused by the Covid-19 pandemic to the residents. The frequent voltage fluctuations and the surge in electricity had destroyed their appliances.

The system loss is also high at 22% with ZAMCELCO blaming widespread pilferage of electricity.

Many street poles still have old electric meters and worse, a number of these do not have covers or broken and pose grave hazards to the public. Many light poles are also dangerously leaning with television and telecommunication cables hanging like a thick industrial cobweb.

Since 2019 after Crown Investments Holdings, Inc. and Desco Inc. took over and bailed out the heavily-indebted and poorly-managed ZAMCELCO for P2.5 billion, the problems are still the same and residents continue to suffer as they did the past several decades.

The ZAMCELCO Customer Service Department is the worst, according to cooperative members, who said that nobody was answering their phone calls. Residents also complained that ZAMCELCO billed them more than what they are supposed to pay. Electric consumers resorted to social media in airing their complaints; many angry over what they claimed were over billing or overcharging imposed by the electric cooperative. (Zamboanga Post)