With a lesser number of teams sent last week under the Power Restoration Rapid Deployment (PRRD) – Task Force Kapatid, the First Catanduanes Electric Cooperative, Inc. (FICELCO) has set the full restoration of electricity in 315 barangays by Jan. 31, 2021.
Last Jan. 6, the task force’s second wave composed of seven teams from different electric cooperatives in mainland Bicol provinces arrived to resume the work began by the first wave of 242 linemen and engineers from 42 electric cooperatives which left for their homes the week before Christmas.
Equipped with three boom trucks, a man lift, three utility vans and a pickup truck, the teams from Sorsogon (SORECO I and II), Camarines Sur (CASURECO I, II, III and IV), and Camarines Norte (CANORECO) are all billeted within the FICELCO headquarters in Marinawa, Bato, except for SORECO I which has been based at the FICELCO area office in Belmonte, San Andres.
The 41 task force personnel are now concentrating on the restoration of power in San Andres and in Feeder 3 in San Miguel along the Boton-Mabato stretch.
According to the latest Power Restoration Report issued by General Manager Raul Zafe, a total of 30,373 households in 203 barangays are now connected to the grid as of Jan. 7, 2021.
The 74.93 percent accomplishment is based on the 40,534 homes that did not sustain damage to their electrical wirings, as the cooperative did not include 15,124 totally-damaged houses that cannot be re-energized.
The restoration progress by town is as follows: Bagamanoc, 15 out of 18 barangays (83%); Baras, 12 of 29 barangays (41%); Bato, 14 of 27 barangays (51.85%); Caramoran, 24 of 27 barangays (88.89%); Gigmoto, 2 of 9 barangays (22.22%); Pandan, 26 of 26 barangays (100%); Panganiban, 18 of 23 barangays (78.26%); San Andres, 12 of 38 barangays (31.58%); San Miguel, 4 of 24 barangays (16.67%); Viga, 25 of 31 barangays (80.65%); and, Virac, 51 of 63 barangays (80.95%).
To date, the estimated cost of damage to FICELCO’s distribution lines due to super typhoon Rolly has reached P217.5 million, the report stated.