• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Northern Negros Electric Cooperative (NONECO) issued a statement on Friday, October 18, that it has restored 100 percent of the power in areas affected by a prolonged outage in E.B. Magalona, Victorias City, and Manapla in Negros Occidental.
However, some netizens have belied claims of NONECO, stressing that they still have no power in some areas of Victorias City.
More than 30,000 consumers in the towns of EB Magalona and Manapla, along with Victorias City, were plunged into darkness since October 15, after a 12.5 MegaVolt Ampere (MVA) power transformer at NONECO’s Victorias substation failed.
In an advisory, NONECO said they have fully restored power to all areas affected by the recent power outages.
NONECO sought the help of Negros Power and Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative (NOCECO) for temporary power supply while awaiting the arrival of its repaired 15MVA power transformer.
In response to the power crisis, NONECO requested a temporary supply of 2 MegaWatts (MW) from Negros Power,and a power transformer from NOCECO.
Negros Power president Roel Castro also assured Negros Power consumers that the augmentation of power to NONECO will not affect their load capacity.
“We have sufficient load to meet the demand within our franchise area. However, we will closely monitor our substations to ensure a continuous and reliable power supply,” Castro said.
E.B. Magalona Mayor Marvin Malacon slammed NONECO for failing to buy a new power transformer for its Victorias substation that already experienced the same problem last year, and relying instead on the one they borrowed from Central Negros Electric Cooperative.*