Thou Shall Not Steal

Extended Earth Hour

After 4 days, they've finally restored the electricity in our block. Hopefully, for good.

It has been like a super-extended Earth Hour in our block. This power outage have caused a lot of inconveniences at home. My youngest sister, who's on vacation from school, spends the whole day answering Sodoku or Crossword puzzles. And she didn't shampooed her hair for several days. :S

Without electricity to run our water pump, we were not able to use our showers and faucets upstairs. We had to optimize our water usage since it's quite tedious to carry pails of waters. In my case, I've managed to acquire a new ability, "Maligo sa Pitong Tabo" (Bath in 7 Buckets).  :P

Like me, my other two sisters, who are both working, were lucky enough because we didn't suffer during morning. But after we get home, we still had to bear with the darkness, heat, mosquito bites, and boredom for the next 10 or 12 hours. :(

As for our store, we used kerosene powered gasera's (gas lamp) to provide adequate lighting. Just like old times. :)

The Replacement

It all started last week, when the Meralco guys began replacing the old wooden posts with concrete ones as part of their upgrade activities. They also replaced the old transformer with a new one, but with a lower capacity. We're not really sure of the basis of lowered capacity value, but it's probably based on the daily consumption as reflected on the electric bills in our vicinity, and some allowance.

They blacked out half of our block last Sunday at 9AM and began installing the new device, and rewired some of the cables. The power was restored around 6:30PM that day, but it didn't last that long. A little past 8PM, the new transformer blew up (figuratively), then there was darkness.

The following day, the Meralco guys returned to fix it. But just like the previous day, it blew up again around 8:30PM. They returned the following day to fix it for the nth time. But this time the transformer is already broken, possibly permanently. The Meralco guys said that they would have to replace it with a new one.

The Jumpers

So, why did the new transformer kept on blowing up? There's no one to blame but those stupid "jumpers". I'm not talking about the guys from the Jumper Movie. These people have abilities as well, they can climb on posts and work on live electrical wires with minimal protection without getting electrocuted. Basically, they steal electricity by tapping to some active power line near their homes.

Before the Meralco guys replaced the old transformer, we would normally see some sparks and at times, even small flames on the cables. Our house is just next to the Meralco post, so if some explosion or fire occurs, we're going to be the first victim.

When the new transformer was installed, it repeatedly broke down since the power consumption of those "jumpers" were never considered in the first place. And the moment they turn on their appliances, down goes the transformer, and so is the electricity for half of the block.

The Meralco guys have probably known this for a long time but the thing is, they really can't do anything about it, and we can't blame them. When they tried inspecting the houses of some our neighbors, they were threatened to be killed or something to that effect.

Most of our neighbors even know who are these "jumpers" but they won't cooperate with the Meralco guys. Either they're afraid, or they're just doing the same illegal thing.

The Fix

"Jumpers" are very common in our vicinity, and the guys from Meralco have devised several methods to protect their services and electrical supply. One of which is to transfer the electric meter/s from each house to electric post. This way, if someone taps into an electric cable, he would be tapping from his neighbor's supply.

This way, Meralco will not be affected by the stolen electricity. The problem is left to the owners to resolve, and to make sure that nobody will be tapping into his cable. Unfortunately, most of our neighbors do not agree to this arrangement. Probably because, they knew that one of our neighbors will surely steal from them. Plus the fact that, the farther your house is, from the electric post, the greater chances of someone tapping into your cable without you knowing it.

Anyhow, it's a deadlock. I think the Meralco guys gave up and just increased the capacity of the transformer to accommodate the loses due to "jumpers". They've probably realized that their lives worth more than stolen electricity.

House of the Syndicate

By the way, the building owned by a big crime syndicate in our vicinity is powered by "jumper technology". Imagine 5 floors of "free" electricity. And the policeman living next to them can't even do anything about it or the illegal things they're doing.

One morning, the Meralco guys removed their tapped connection, the afternoon of that same day, they bought electrical tape from us, and by night time, they already have electricity again.