• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The 15,000 households under the service area of Northern Negros Electric Cooperative (Noneco) may have to endure several days of power outages, as the management is even uncertain when the power will be fully restored.
From Tuesday morning to Wednesday evening, many households in 23 barangays of E.B. Magalona had no electricity, after the Noneco power transformer at its Bacayan substation in Victorias City malfunctioned, as reported by its general manager, Wilbe Bilbao.
While power was restored in some areas in Victorias City, by getting power load transfer from the unaffected Manapla substation, some areas of E.B. Magalona have not been energized yet as of press time.
This prompted E.B. Magalona Mayor Marvin Malacon to demand an explanation from Noneco, after receiving reports that it may take two weeks for the electric cooperative to restore power in all the town’s barangays.
Telecommunication signals were also affected in some areas of E.B. Magalona.
Malacon bared his plan to purchase generator sets in every barangay to allow town residents to charge their cellular phones and portable lamps.
In August last year, the whole town of E.B. Magalona also suffered without power for almost five days, after the Noneco transformer conked out in the same substation.
This prompted the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco), as facilitated by Victorias City Mayor Javier Miguel Benitez, to provide them with a second hand transformer, to address the problem of power shortage.
The transformer borrowed by Noneco from Ceneco also conked out after more than a year of its utilization, Malacon said.
He recalled that Noneco did not even send a reply to his letter, inquiring about the replacement of the damaged transformer, as the mayor expressed his concern that similar problems may occur in the near future.
Indeed, it happened again, a year after, Malacon said.
The mayor said he cannot accept the alibi of Noneco that they have no money to buy a transformer, replace their aging equipment, noting that their power rates are expensive.
“If you cannot address this problem, it is better for the electric cooperative to be privatized, as it may benefit its member-consumers for cheaper power rates,” Malacon said.
He also slammed Noneco for its failure to communicate, or explain to their member-consumers on how they will address the recurring problems.
The power crisis also affected some areas of Manapla and Victorias City.
In a statement on Wednesday, Noneco said that the transformer loaned by the Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative, which has been successfully installed, will now undergo a series of procedures, including comprehensive testing, leak checks, and degasification.
Once these processes are complete, the results will be submitted to the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines for approval to energize the transformer and restore electric service. | GB
