Limasawa will be fully energized by 2014

Limasawa Mayor Melchor Petracorta said energy officials here have assured him that the underwater transmission line linking the island with the Soleco substation power source in the city will be realized by 2014.

He said “Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla had promised them during his visit to Southern Leyte last July that the Limasawa project was their priority and that the feasibility study had already been completed.”

Limasawa is currently being served by the Southern Leyte Electric Cooperative (Soleco) through a diesel generator plant with a 163 kilovolt ampere capacity. Current power rate in the island is P9 per kilowatt hour higher than the P8.30 per kwh charged in the mainland.

The generator operates for only five hours every night and provides electricity to all six barangays in the island with about 1,000 household consumers.

The local government had asked Soleco to extend its operation to six hours but the cooperative refused due to high fuel cost.

“If we had a reliable power supply we could attract tourism-related investments to the island because the cost of doing business would be cheaper. 

Right now Investors won’t invest in our town because the power supply is limited and very costly,” the mayor added. Small solar panels augment the island’s power supply but its only limited to street lights in Barangay Triana.

The island is visited by around 1,000 foreign divers each year but they won’t stay overnight because they don’t have 24 hour electricity and lack comfortable accommodation facilities.