VICTORIAS CITY: Power has been completely restored in three northern Negros localities after a major substation breakdown led to a massive power outage impacting roughly 30,000 households earlier this week. The Northern Negros Electric Cooperative (Noneco) announced the full restoration of electricity to the affected areas on Friday, three days after the initial outage.
According to Philippines News Agency, Noneco general manager Wilbe Bilbao confirmed the developments in a statement, saying, “We have achieved 100 percent power restoration for E.B. Magalona, Victorias City, and Manapla.” Power was fully restored by 10:59 a.m., following the breakdown of Noneco’s 15 mega volt-amperes (MVA) Victorias substation on Tuesday morning.
In response to the outage, Noneco took immediate measures on Wednesday by connecting with the distribution line of Negros Electric Power Corp. (NEPC/Negros Power) in Silay City. This temporary connection provided two megawatts of power to parts of E.B. Magalona. Additionally, the co
operative borrowed a 10MVA power transformer from the Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative, which was energized by early Friday.
In a statement, Roel Castro, president and CEO of Negros Power, emphasized their commitment to supporting Noneco during this period. “We understand the difficulties faced by our fellow industry player and neighbor, Noneco, and their consumers during this challenging time. We didn’t hesitate to extend our support by providing them with two megawatts of temporary supply from our Lopez and Panaogao substations,” he stated.
Castro also assured consumers of Negros Power that their assistance to Noneco would not affect their own service capacity, as there is ample load to meet the demand within their franchise area.