The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines  reminded the public against Right-of-Way violations that affect its field operations, its press release said.

Common ROW violations they encounter are planting of trees within the ROW corridor, grass fires at or around the facilities, squatting and putting up of structures under their transmission lines, and kite flying, Cynthia Alabanza of NGCP said.

 All of these activities can disrupt the transmission of power and cause power outages. They also damage their lines and compromise the safety of the public, Alabanza said.

Last year, in the Visayas alone, there were 10 outages or line trippings caused by ROW violations, the NGCP press release said.

 A national total of 44 incidents were recorded last year for ROW violation-related outages.

Apart from being the cause of the problem, some ROW violators compound the problem by preventing NCGP personnel from coming in and fixing damaged lines.

Because of this many residents relying on the speedy delivery of electricity suffer, Alabanza said.

She also said ROW violations imply additional cost to the company because it has to clear the land of vegetation and structures performing maintenance work.

NGCP also warned the public about the safety hazards for ROW violators. Transmission lines are open lines that carry a minimum of 69,000 volts and a maximum of 500,000 volts, the press release said.

The lines carry electricity that is more than 300 times the power of the electricity flowing in households, which is just 220 volts. Breaching safety clearances can be fatal, the press release said.

NGCP is a privately owned corporation in charge of operating, maintaining, and developing the country’s power grid.

It transmits high-voltage electricity through power superhighways that include the interconnected system of transmission lines and towers, substations and related assets, the press release added.*

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