• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
More than month after it assumed the operation of Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco), the Negros Electric and Power Corp. (Negros Power) presented its P2.1-billion five-year development plan for its franchise area yesterday.
In his presentation before local officials of Negros Occidental and Bacolod City as well as other stakeholders, Negros Power president and chief executive officer Roel Castro said that they will focus on the rehabilitation of Ceneco’s aging equipment and facilities for three years, before modernizing the system, to include major substations and line rehabilitation, pole replacement and intermediate installation.
On the consumers’ side, the first thing Negros Power will do is the rehabilitation of electric meters and installation of elevated metering system.
He reported that seven out of 12 substations are already 25 years old, with Mountain View, Reclamation, Alijis, Sum-ag and Bago substations reaching beyond safe loading, which is 70 percent, this year.
Among the common causes of power outages were blamed on vegetation in more than 2,600 locations and animal intrusion, line asset deterioration and failure, busted fuse distribution transformer, secondary wire loose connection, service line and meter trouble, among others.
“Once we reach a level where we already have a breathing space, which should be in the next three years, then we will go to the next step, which is the modernization,” he added.
Negros Power is also acquiring a mobile substation to temporarily serve customers while a permanent substation undergoes maintenance, Castro said.
He also announced that Negros Power plans to implement an underground cabling initiative, initially along Lacson St. in Bacolod City, establish several quick response teams and implement a Sitio Electrification Program.
In an interview after his presentation, Castro assured the consumers that there will be no increase in the distribution, supply and metering (DSM) also known as distribution charges.
The DSM charges are the components of the power bill which the electric cooperative retained for its daily operation.
“This is the only thing we have control over,” Castro said, clarifying that they have “no control over, when it comes to generation charges”.
“But for the DSM, which is the one that we can charge, there wouldn’t be any increase for the next two years,” he added.
Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, Vice Gov. Jeffrey Ferrer, Murcia Mayor Victor Gerardo Rojas and Silay City Mayor Joedith Gallego attended the presentation.
“We will hold them to their word of executing the plans that they presented,” Benitez said.
Consumers group Power Watch Negros described the presentation of Negros Power as “very comprehensive”.
Its secretary general, Wennie Sancho, however, stressed the need for Negros Power to conduct an information dissemination campaign in the grassroots level in relation to their five-year development plan in layman’s terms. | GB
