Albay: The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) has announced a scheduled power interruption that will affect a town and a city served by the Albay Electric Cooperative (Aleco) on Thursday. Aleco's public information officer, Anj Galero, stated that Polangui town and Ligao City would be affected.

According to Philippines News Agency, in a phone interview, Joyce Balancio, NGCP lead specialist for government relations and regional affairs, said the outage would begin at midnight and last until 6 a.m. on July 17. "The outage of the Daraga-Ligao 69 kilovolt (kV) Line is necessary to conduct a Black Start Service Test as part of the Ancillary Services Accreditation for Bacman Geothermal Power Plant Unit 1. It is one of the power generation companies connected to our grid. During adverse weather conditions or other eventualities, there is a mechanism in place for them to jump-start their operations and reconnect with us," she said.

Balancio explained that the goal of the service test is to improve the quality of service for consumers, particularly during bad weather. "This activity will simulate how they can reconnect to the grid using an alternative mechanism. Even if our line is affected for any reason, Bacman can still connect and continue to supply power to the grid," she added.