Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson on Friday, Sept. 4, said that the constant power outages are hurting businesses in Negros Occidental, and if the length of the brownouts worsens, it could become a crisis.
Bacolod Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said the Negros Power and Electric Corp. informed him that several power-generating plants are down for regular maintenance work and for some other reasons, and the lack of power supply is causing the brownouts.
“But if I am not mistaken, the maintenance is finished, this coming month should be better,” he said.
Lacson said the daily power outages are definitely bad for business.
“While many of our business establishments have their own generators, that is an additional cost,” he said.
Right now, it is not a crisis, but if the length of the brownouts worsens, it could become one, he said, adding that he hopes the power plants get back online as soon as possible.
Rep. Javier Miguel Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3rd District) said, “The Visayas deserves better. We pay over one peso per kilowatt-hour for backup power. Where is it?”
Benitez said he is filing a House resolution on Monday directing the Committee on Energy to summon the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), Department of Energy (DOE), and Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP).
He wants answers on how much Visayas consumers paid for ancillary services in 2026, which generators received it, how many megawatts of reserve it actually secured, and the dates for new supply and transmission in the Visayas, Benitez said in a Facebook post.
Benitez said he is gathering the signatures of the Visayas congressmen for the filing of the resolution.*
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