The unprecedented 15-hour power outage at the UST campus was due to blown fuses, electric distribution company Meralco said on Friday.
Power at the University was restored Friday morning after an outage that began at approximately 6:55 p.m. on Thursday night, which forced Thomasians to shift to online classes and work.
“Based on initial investigation, two fuses on the primary metering pole were busted due to a fault on UST’s load side electrical facilities,” Meralco said in a statement.
In an electrical system, there are typically two main sides: the utility side, which is owned and managed by the electricity provider (Meralco, in this case), and the load side, which is owned and managed by the customer (UST, in this case).
The load side includes the electrical wiring, transformers, and other equipment used by the customer to distribute electricity within its premises.
The electricity distributor informed the Varsitarian that power was restored at 10:10 a.m. on Friday.
UST Facilities Management Office Director Fr. Dexter Austria, O.P. confirmed the restoration to the Varsitarian a few minutes later.
The power outage, which lasted 15 hours and 25 minutes, occurred following a loud boom heard near the St. Raymund de Peñafort Building in Dapitan.
A second loud boom was heard near Gate 11 at 7:53 p.m. while Meralco representatives were conducting inspections, followed by another at 10:08 p.m.
Generators restored power for most buildings except for a few near the Dapitan area including the St. Raymund de Peñafort Building, Tan Yan Kee Student Center, Miguel de Benavides Library, and San Martin de Porres Building Fernando Pierre Marcel B. Dela Cruz
