The unscheduled rotating brownouts (blackouts) within the Meralco franchise on Saturday, June 9, 2012 have caught residents particularly business unprepared. The brownout have angered the affected customers saying that they have been paying high premium only to have the electricity service be cut-off during the unexpected time of the day.
The reason for the blackout as per Meralco was the decline of the system power reserve.
I did a quick check on the power situation lookout on the National Grid Corporation website and found out that during the Pacquiao – Bradley fight, the national reserve is low having the possibility of a blackout during the fight which will rob the Filipino people of the chance to see their idol on the ring. In particular, Mindanao having a negative reserve.
The possibility of a blackout will never cease until the government will be able to provide suitable solution to boost the power reserves particularly in Mindanao. Short-term solution like power barges should not be considered to be permanent. More so, the power generation cost of these power barges are enormous adding further burden to the already crippled Filipino people.