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The blackout leaves the entire town of EB Magalona without a power supply. The crisis also affects some areas in Victorias City and the town of Manapla.
BACOLOD, Philippines – More than 24 hours after a power outage hit a city and two towns in Negros Occidental, affecting over 30,000 power consumers, there is still no solution in sight.
The blackout, which began at 5 am on Tuesday, October 15, has left the entire town of EB Magalona without a power supply. The crisis also affected some areas in Victorias City and the town of Manapla.
Telecommunication signals were also down as a result, and many residents were forced to travel to nearby Silay City or Bacolod City just to stay connected or find temporary shelter in hotels or inns.
Northern Negros Electric Cooperative (Noneco) General Manager Wilbe Bilbao told Rappler on Wednesday, October 16, that the blackout occurred after the power transformer at Noneco’s Bacayan sub-station in Victorias City malfunctioned for still unclear reasons.
Since the outage, Noneco has scrambled to implement four contingency plans, but as of 6 pm on Tuesday, only one – a power load transfer from the unaffected Manapla sub-station to parts of Victorias – has been made. While some areas of Victorias have since regained power, EB Magalona’s 23 barangays remain completely without electricity.
Attempts to draw 2.5 megawatts (MW) of power from Victorias Milling Company’s co-generated source, as well as the borrowing of a standby 10-mega volt ampere (MVA) power transformer from the Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative (Noceco), are also in limbo as both plans await approval from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), respectively.
Bilbao expressed hope that power might be fully restored soon, but with no guarantees from Ceneco-Negros Power, ERC, or NGCP, residents remain uncertain as to when the lights will finally come back on.
Meanwhile, Bilbao admitted that the faulty transformer, which triggered the blackout, was itself borrowed from Ceneco-Negros Power just two months ago after the original transformer was destroyed by lightning. Ironically, the borrowed transformer is suspected to have been damaged by another lightning strike on Monday night, October 14.
A permanent solution may take weeks, as Noneco is expecting the delivery of a newly repaired 15-MVA transformer from Manila. However, with the town of EB Magalona still in the dark, residents are left to cope with yet another drawn-out power crisis. – Rappler.com
