ABOUT a million people in the Philippines have endured an extraordinary blackout after a power provider cut electricity to an entire province over unpaid debts dating back 15 years.
Hospitals, hotels and an airport in Albay province were forced to run on emergency generators after power was severed on Tuesday afternoon, while businesses closed and residents struggled amid steamy, tropical weather.
"We could not sleep last night, it was very hot. I opened the windows and a screen door to get some wind inside but that allowed the big mosquitoes in," Jun Marana, a coach driver in the provincial capital of Legazpi, told AFP by telephone on Wednesday.
Marana said all the food in his refrigerator had spoiled, while it was difficult to buy more for his four children because many shops had closed.
The country's electricity spot market operator cut off the power to Albay's electricity retailer because of about four billion pesos ($A103.09 million) in bills that had accumulated over 15 years, the national government said.
The retailer, Albay Electric Co-Operative, is collectively owned by all power consumers in the province.
Local and national government officials accused Albay Electric's board of gross mismanagement in accumulating the debts.
The president of the national power provider, Philippine Electricity Market Corporation (PEMCI), said it had been forced to take the drastic action after years of unsuccessful negotiations with Albay Electric.
"How can we encourage investors if the distribution utilities like (Albay Electric) are consuming electricity without paying?" PEMCI president Melinda Ocampo told AFP.
"There is no free electricity."
Electricity supplies resumed to most residents in the province at 5:00 pm (0900 GMT) on Wednesday after negotiations between PEMCI and Albay Electric Co-Operative that were brokered by Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla.
But the 100 biggest consumers, including hotels, factories and department stores, were still cut off.
And Ocampo said power to the whole province would be turned off again in seven days unless Albay Electric began repaying its debt.
"If they cannot pay then we will cut them off," Ocampo said.
Ocampo rejected suggestions the company's actions could have put people's lives in danger, saying Albay Electric was at fault because it had agreed to have its debts restructured in 2010, then reneged.
Albay, one of the country's poorer provinces in the far east of the main island of Luzon, has 1.1 million residents.
Politicians and residents expressed deep anger that the debt crisis had led to such extreme action.
Legazpi mayor Noel Rosal said his city had lost more than 15 million pesos ($345,000) because of the blackout, largely due to businesses being forced to close.
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