• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez yesterday stressed the need for Negros Power to immediately replace the old equipment of the 11 substations in the grid, of which seven are older than 25 years old.
In a press briefing, Benitez said those equipment are no longer usable at a certain point
“Hindi na ni ya mapuslan (It is no longer usable) at a certain point. So, it is very imperative to change it to new ones,” the mayor said.
The Negros Power restored power to 48,000 consumers on Monday, after five days of a series of power outages, after a transformer at its Alijis substation conked out on August 21.
“We don’t really want this to happen. We don’t have revenues from this, and this has brought inconveniences to the consumers, and we’re very sensitive to that,” Negros Power president Roel Castro earlier said.
Despite the negative comments against the Negros Power due to the recent power situation, Castro said that it won’t affect their mandate to serve their consumers.
Benitez said that Negros Power will present its detailed 5-year program to modernize the distribution facility, before the City Council next week.
Aside from the transformers, Benitez said that Negros Power is planning to change electrical wiring, which are old and bound to break.
So, all of this equipment and replaceable items have to be replaced immediately, he added.
They can advance most of the equipment that is needed, so that we will have fewer problems, Benitez said, adding that Negros Power is investing P2.5 billion for its modernization program.*
