Kristine leaves 500K households without power

A total of 2.1 million household electricity connections across 12 regions were affected by Severe Tropical Storm Kristine, with damages to electrical infrastructure estimated at P70.25 million.

NEA Administrator Antonio Almeda reported that electric cooperatives have restored power to 1.6 million households, leaving only 500,000 without electricity as of Thursday.

In areas like Iriga, Camarines Sur, only 54 percent of connections were energized due to manual shutdowns in flooded regions, while Pangasinan and Batangas saw significant progress with 168 out of 192 barangays and 76.2% of connections energized respectively.

The NEA assured that critical areas such as hospitals, evacuation centers, and ports like Matnog and Allen are fully energized to ensure the transport of goods.

Restoration efforts continue in franchise areas of Pangasinan I Electric Cooperative (Panelco I), Batangas I Electric Cooperative (Batelec I), Albay Electric Cooperative, Camarines Sur II Electric Cooperative (Casureco II), and Casureco III.

Damage assessments for the affected electric cooperatives are still ongoing, with initial estimates showing millions of pesos worth of damage.