The coming local and national elections on May 10 will be free of brownouts, the Department of Energy (DoE) assured Thursday.

Energy Secretary Jose Ibazeta even assured that the day before and after the elections, there will be no power outages, particularly in Mindanao.

The assurance was made in the wake of rotational brownouts experienced in Luzon, which according to him was brought about by a change in the maintenance schedules of the power plants in preparation for the upcoming elections.

“We are confident within the period of May 9 to 11 we have power in Mindanao,” he told reporters.

“We should be able to address at least for those few days. Bear in mind, during the election period, the demand of industry is much lower, the malls are also quieter so there is no high demand during those days,” he pointed out.

He said the government has readied a power supply of 618.5 megawatts to ensure that the conduct of elections in the region where the cases of election- related violence are high will not be hampered by power shortage.

Mindanao remains under a state of calamity following the worsening power shortfall.