Bacolod City power, water woes reach 4th day

BACOLOD CITY: The city government here is closely working with the new distribution utility, Negros Electric and Power Corp. (Negros Power), to address the lack of electricity as the massive power outage in the southeast part of Bacolod reached the fourth day Saturday. Since Wednesday night, more than 40,000 registered consumer-households, mainly in the villages of Alijis, Mansilingan, Felisa and Handumanan, have been experiencing brownouts after the 30/37 megavolt amperes (MVA) Alijis substation power transformer of the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) broke down due to an oil leak. The power disruption also halted the operation of some wells in PrimeWater Bacolod City, which eventually led to water shortages in brownout-hit areas. In a statement on Saturday, Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said they have reached out to Negros Power officials, who assured the city government that they are making every effort to resolve the issues. "We have also requested that the arrival of the 10 MVA mobile s ubstation from their sister company, MORE Power Iloilo, be expedited," he added. The mobile substation, which arrived here Saturday afternoon, is expected to start supplying power to the Alijis feeders by Tuesday next week, according to Negros Power. After the 13-year-old transformer suffered irreparable damage, the new power company connected the Alijis substation to nearby substations and feeders to provide 32 megawatts of temporary supply to the affected areas. In a statement, Negros Power said it would "replace the damaged transformer with a new unit," but the installation of the 18MVA power transformer would take "approximately two weeks before the new transformer can be fully integrated into the system." "I have advised (Negros Power) to submit a transition plan and timeline to the City Council for transparency and progress monitoring," Benitez said. The mayor said he also requested PrimeWater to deploy generators to the wells or pumping stations and coordinate with their partners to ensure water r ationing in affected areas. "For areas facing water shortage due to the power outage, residents can communicate with their barangay captains to arrange for water distribution," he added. In a social media post, PrimeWater said it has delivered water to some brownout-hit areas since Friday, together with its joint venture partner, Bacolod City Water District The massive brownouts came weeks after Negros Power obtained a franchise to distribute power supply to Bacolod and five other local government units, following its joint venture agreement with Ceneco last year. It is set to formally take over the operations of Ceneco next month once the Energy Regulatory Commission grants the certificate of public convenience and necessity. Source: Philippines News agency