SAN CARLOS CITY—Twenty days after typhoon Cosme, only about 50 percent of the barangays being served by the Central Pangasinan Electric Cooperative (Cenpelco) have yet been energized.

Cenpelco said if the 429 barangays whose lines were cut off by the fury of the typhoon, only 201 barangays have yet been energized as of Friday.

Sandra Frias, institutional development manager of Cenpelco, said there are a total of 558 barangays covered by Cenpelco, believed to be the biggest electric cooperative in the entire country.

Cenpelco services 14 towns and one city in Central Pangasinan. Its main office is located in San Carlos City.

With the help of a task force from other electric cooperatives in Luzon, Cenpelco was already able to restore all of its 777 primary lines that were damaged by the typhoon Cosme last May 17.

This enabled the electric cooperative to bring electricity to all the poblacion areas under its coverage since last week.

Exceptions are the towns of Bayambang, Bautista and Basista which were not damaged by the typhoon and are enjoying 100 percent electricity.

Frias reported on radio that clearing operations are now going on in all the other barangays still unenergized with the help of the task force from other electric cooperatives and private contractors.

She appealed for patience and understanding of member consumers as the damages sustained by the electric firm in many of its areas of coverage are really “enormous.”

In Lingayen, the capital town of Pangasinan, Cenpelco has yet been able to restore electricity in only five barangays with 28 others still enenergized.