Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez on Monday, April 29, appealed to the Senate to hasten the granting of a franchise to the Negros Electric Power Corporation (NEPC) so it can take over the power distribution services of Central Negros Electric Cooperative (CENECO) and address the recurring problem of multiple brownouts in Bacolod City.
The mayor issued the appeal after extreme heat caused multiple brownouts in Bacolod City on Sunday.
Sen. Grace Poe also sponsored three local bills seeking the grant of legislative franchises to power distribution utilities in the provinces of Negros Occidental, Leyte and Romblon during the Senate plenary session on Monday.
Poe, Senate Committee on Public Services chairperson, pushed for the approval of the bills that would grant franchises to NEPC, Leyte II Electric Cooperative, and the Romblon Electric Cooperative.
“As the heat index in the country remains dangerously high and is projected to continue rising at the peak of summer season and amid El Niño, there is no more fitting time than today to present three measures that will ensure our power consumers’ continued access to affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy, especially in the midst of widespread and frequent brownouts and power interruptions in various parts of the country,” Poe said in her sponsorship speech.
House Bill No. 9805 is a measure borne out of public clamor for better power service in Negros Occidental, she said.
“It seeks to grant a franchise to NEPC, a partnership formed through the joint venture agreement (JVA) between Primelectric, the same parent company of Iloilo’s MORE Power, and CENECO, the existing power distribution utility in the cities of Bacolod, Bago, Talisay, and Silay and the municipalities of Don Salvador Benedicto and Murcia in Negros Occidental, she said.
CENECO has admitted to its inability to rehabilitate and upgrade its facilities due to its current financial standing, Poe said.
“NEA has reported that CENECO is operating at a negative profit margin and has failed to pay its debts timely. In 2023, it was classified as a Yellow-1 electric cooperative for its poor performance on collection efficiency, systems loss, working capital requirements, and financial operations,” she said.
“Amid these difficulties, NEPC has expressed its readiness and willingness to invest capital to modernize the distribution system and address the operational challenges. We believe this investment would benefit not only the franchise area but also the power sector and the Philippine economy in general,” Poe said.
“I am appealing to the Senate to pass it (the NEPC franchise) so that we can have better equipment and facilities in our electric distribution system,” Benitez also said.
Part of the solution to reducing the brownouts hitting Bacolod is to upgrade its aging facilities and wires to more heat resistant ones, Benitez pointed out.
“The way to move forward is to modernize or to come up with brand new or newer facilities and equipment at Ceneco”, he said.
That is the reason why he pushed for the JVA that anticipates the need for a huge capital expenditure (CapEx) to address the power distribution problems of Ceneco, Benitez said.
The JVA that will allow NEPC to take over the power distribution services of Ceneco will mean the infusion of P2 billion for its modernization, the mayor said.
27 BROWOUTS SUNDAY
There were 27 reported power outages in Bacolod City on Sunday, Arnel Lapore, Ceneco acting general manager, said.
The heat index in Negros Occidental was 43 degrees Celsius on Sunday.
“The rising temperatures now have never been experienced by Ceneco before”, Lapore said.
The extreme heat is melting down our insulators and wires, he said.
Ceneco’s transformers are also overloaded because there is a huge increase in demand for power, he said.
The extreme heat has caused some transformers to burn, Lapore said, adding that about 15 had to be replaced on Sunday for various problems.
The Bacolod Reclamation 69 KV line also tripped off Sunday night after a rat entered its panel and died causing a brief brownout, he added.
Lapore said the Ceneco response teams are being augmented and NEPC will also assist even if its franchise has not been approved yet.*