Full Force Power Restoration Re-energizes 54% of Affected Households –Cusi

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The Department of Energy (DOE) led Task Force on Energy Resiliency (TFER) reported that 54% of the affected households in Typhoon Ompong hit areas already have electricity.

Of the 2,253,230 affected households, a total of 1,216,727 have been energized, while 1,036,502 are still undergoing power restoration, according to the latest data from the National Electrification Administration (NEA).

“We are now at 54% and continuously mobilizing our people to areas of concern for the speedy restoration of power, among other forms of assistance from the energy family,” Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi said.

On generation, the National Power Corporation-Smalll Power Utilities Group (SPUG) reported normal operations of its diesel power plants (DPP) in the areas of Batanes (Itbayat and Sabtang); Isabela and Aurora areas (Maconacon and Casuguran). On the other hand, the NPC-SPUG DPPs in Calayan, Minabel Balatubat, Kabugao, and Palanan are either under assessment or impassable due to the occurrence of landslides, while the one DPP in Basco is undergoing distribution side line maintenance with feeder 1 restored by 11:37 am today.

NPC’s dam status report indicates that water-spilling operations generally decreased, but were still on-going at the Ambuklao, Binga and San Roque dams. Spilling operations at the San Roque dam are forecasted to end by Friday (21 September).

On transmission, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines deployed 22 line crews totaling 176 field personnel and augmentation teams to expedite the restoration of the remaining transmission facilities still offline.

NGCP recently energized the transmission systems of Ifugao, Mt. Province and Benguet, while transmission services in Cagayan, and Apayao are still under rehabilitation.

On distribution, target timelines for power restoration per area of concern are as follows:

Region I (5 ECs): Ilocos Norte (INEC with 52.42% restored, full restoration  is targeted on 16 October), Ilocos Sur (ISECO 0%, 6 October), La Union (LUELCO with 77.43%, 23 September), and Pangasinan (PANELCO I & III, 100% restored)

Region II (7 ECs): Cagayan (CAGELCO I with 6.74%, 30 November and CAGELCO II with 0%, 16 October), Isabela (ISELCO I with 86.36%, 22 September and ISELCO II with 39.45%, 15 October), Nueva Vizcaya (NUVELCO with 0%), Quirino (Quirelco with 77.33%), and Batanes (BATANELCO, 100% restored)

CAR (5 ECs): Kalinga-Apayao (KAELCO with 0%, 15 October), Mountain Province (MOPRECO with 0%, 30 September), Abra (ABRECO with 0%, no timeline yet), Benguet (BENECO with 50.37%, 6 October), and Ifugao (IFELCO with 0%, no timeline yet)

Region III (3 ECs): Aurora (AURELCO with 92.99%, 18 Sept.), Nueva Ecija (NEECO II-Area 2, 100% restored) and Zambales (ZAMECO with 96.61%, timeline for confirmation)

Region IV-A (2 ECs): Laguna (FLECO, 100% restored) and Batangas (BATELEC II, 100% restored)

NCR: Meralco expects to restore today (17 Sept.) the coastal areas of Paombong and Hagonoy, Bulacan.

For the oil industry, the DOE-Oil Industry Management Bureau reported that there is sufficient supply of petroleum products, with stocks ranging from 2 to 15 days, depending on the area.

The DOE reminds the oil companies that a price freeze for household LPG (11 kg) and kerosene products is now being implemented in Cagayan, Abra, Benguet, Isabela, Ilocos Norte, Kalinga and Mayoyao, Ifugao following the declaration of a State of Calamity in the areas. The price freeze will be enforced for 15 days upon said announcement.

 The DOE assures that public that the energy family is working non-stop until the energy services affected by Typhoon Ompong are brought back to normal conditions.

4 Major Guidelines You Should Consider When Buying Your Own Home Gym Equipment

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A healthy lifestyle is something on nearly everyone’s priority list, according to reverehealth.com. A healthy lifestyle is as a result of choices like the type of food you eat. Your body is what you make it. Be wise and feed on foods that will have a positive impact on your body. This will reduce the chances of you ever going to the hospital because of health issues related to your weight. The gym is liked by many because of different reasons. Losing weight and gaining muscles are the common reasons why many attend gym sessions. Those who are a bit well-off tend to have a gym installed in their homes. The gym requires various equipment. These are the top tips you should consider when buying equipment for your private home gym;

Agenda

In life, you must always have an agenda. The best way to achieve an agenda is by setting measurable and achievable goals. When you are scouting for gym equipment, you need to identify what type of exercise program will benefit you. If you want a leaner body with muscles, you can invest in buying a treadmill. A treadmill will be very useful for high-intensity training since you can walk and run on it. You can visit a review website that lists just a few of the benefits of owning a treadmill in your home to help you understand more. Running is an exercise that can help you burn body fat. If you are into weight lifting, then you can buy adjustable dumbbells that will help you shape your body muscles. All these are possible end results you can achieve when using gym equipment. All you need to do is ensure that you know what you want before you buy something that will not be of help.

Space

Gym equipment varies in shape, size and weight. Before you can purchase any equipment for your home gym, you should always consider the space available in your house. While you assess the pros of the equipment, you also need to consider the vertical height and surface area of the space you intend to put your gym equipment in your home. You should take proper measurements to ensure you don't bring home an equipment that will not fit in the space allocated.

Cost and installation

Gym equipment is usually very costly. You therefore need to have a budget in place that will help you refrain from buying unnecessary equipment. Your home gym should have equipment tailored for you. When considering the price of the equipment, always consider the installation fee as well. Some equipment have a complicated installation process. As such, you will require professionals to do the installation for you. This might attract more charges which might be beyond your budget.

Research and reviews

If you are planning to buy gym equipment for the first time, always ensure that you do your homework right. Gather enough information about the company and its reputation. Reputation can be gathered from reviews by previous clients. Reviews will always give the pros and cons of any product. From this, you will be able to know whether to buy the gym equipment or not.

Email Marketing for Small Business Owners: Why Aren't You Doing It Yet?

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There’s an immense amount of data that supports how helpful email marketing is, particularly for small business owners. Marketing expenses are no joke, and it’s important to carefully determine where to spend your dollars.

Email marketing is one of the most cost-friendly tactics that establish your presence and help you reach customers where they go every single day: their inbox.

Most companies might tell you that the best way to promote your business is through social media, where everyone is constantly consuming content. The difference here is that when people check their Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram feeds, they do so out of habit, almost a reflex that happens when they look at their phones in the morning.

On the other hand, we all make a conscious decision to check our emails for important updates. This is what makes email marketing more personal, and therefore more effective, in helping your business acquire new customers.

Yahoo! Messenger may be obsolete now, and even some social media platforms have disappeared or lost its appeal through the years (does anyone remember Multiply? Plurk? Friendster? MySpace?) but email is here to stay.

If you are a small business owner, then chances are you have a limited budget to spend for marketing, and you know you have no leisure to spend this budget on tactics that do not appeal to your target market, or on advertising platforms that have become too saturated, like social media.

WHY SHOULD I INVEST IN EMAIL MARKETING?

Email not only provides a more direct channel through which small business owners can connect with their customers, but it is also more efficient and simpler in format, which can turn leads into customers, and eventually, into organic promoters of your brand or business.

Put yourself into a consumer’s shoes. Do you not engage with brands that you trust? More than looking at brands that look “cool,” or brands that have gone viral, smart consumers will look at your reviews, and sniff around your content to see if you are genuinely offering something valuable.

Email marketing is personal, and signing up for a newsletter is a conscious decision that people make because they think your content is informative and your authority is something they can trust.

People can read your email newsletter and can tell right away if your business is the right fit for their needs.

It has also become so accessible, much like social media! You can open your email right on your phone, or your tablet, which is something many people find incredibly convenient. They can scroll back to a previous email you sent about discount or coupon codes, pull it up on their screen, and redeem your special offers in a click.

Through email segmentation, you can also forge closer bonds with your consumers. Every single day, we are all flooded with information, most of which we don’t need or care for. Email marketing and email segmentation allows you to personalize your message and send specific content for a specific set of consumers on your list.

Email marketing also allows your business to offer last-minute deals, and instantly get the word out about these offers without spending hours creating promotional videos or posters like you would have to do on social media. It saves you time, resources, and has a great return on investment.

WHAT DO I PUT ON MY EMAIL MARKETING CAMPAIGNS? 

Unlike social media advertising, email marketing does not overwhelm its subscribers. Ideally, people prefer to receive emails from a brand once a week, and they generally sign up for emails or newsletters that tell them about:

• Reward programs
• Contests
• Sales and discount promotions
• Free content like e-books or guides
• Information about a new service or product
• Exclusive access to a premium service before anyone else has tried it
• News and updates about the company/ brand

When done at the right time and with the right offer, email marketing can generate leads. A

well-timed campaign is essential to its success.

HOW DO I KNOW A CAMPAIGN IS SUCCESSFUL?

For email marketing, key performance indicators (KPIs) should track the following metrics:

• Open rate
• Click-through rate
• Conversion
• Bounce rate
• Spam complaints
• Unsubscribe rate
• Time spent on site
• Time spent before making a purchase
• Cost per lead (pay per click)
• Brand growth and awareness

It’s important to look at what content you published before your readers decided to unsubscribe to your newsletter. It tells you what kind of content does not work. On the other hand, open and click-through rates are metrics that tell you when your email’s subject line is eye catching and sparked the reader’s interest.

HOW DO I GET STARTED? 

You’re probably wondering how to roll out your first email marketing campaign. First and foremost, it’s important to start with an eye-catching design!

Don’t worry, you don’t need to be a master at Photoshop in order to do this. In fact, you can have all your email marketing needs addressed through just one platform. Start with Email Designer, a drag and drop feature that allows you to customize an email template and fill it with personal images and text that you need for your campaign.

As you toggle around with the email designer, you can actually enjoy the live editing feature, and see all your changes reflect on your screen right as you make them. The email designer also saves you the time from worrying about responsiveness - whether you view it on mobile, tablet, or on a smartphone, your emails will always look their best.

If you want to include images on your email design, there’s also a built-in Photo Editing feature, so you don’t have to download Photoshop to tweak a photo. You can customize your email design by color, and if you have a knack for HTML, have fun experimenting with our Code Editor.

After you’re done designing your email newsletter, you’re ready to distribute it to your audience! Try out the Marketing Automation feature, wherein you can set triggers, like when someone clicks on subscribe, or add to cart, or checkout, and an automated welcome message will be sent to your consumer’s inbox. If they didn’t respond, you don’t have to worry, because all you have to do is set a schedule for when a follow-up email should be sent.

The simple steps of our marketing automation will welcome your new subscribers, convert your leads into customers, and help you confirm purchases, and you don’t have to do a thing. Just let us do it for you, so you can focus on other important aspects of your business!

If you’re ready to get started, check out here!

Written By: Joy Aspacio