Local power distributor Negros Power significantly mitigated an all-day scheduled power interruption by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) on Saturday, October 25, successfully shielding nearly 50% of its originally affected customers.
The NGCP had scheduled the nine-hour outage, from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, to conduct essential maintenance on its Bacolod–Alijis 69kV line. This work was set to directly impact 93,994 customers served by Negros Power’s Murcia and Alijis substations.
But Negros Power said that by utilizing its advanced load transfer system, it managed to drastically reduce the net number of consumers affected to just 47,102. This crucial intervention prevented a power interruption for 46,892 households and businesses.
Engr. Leomel Tambanillo, Assistant Vice President for Planning and Business Operations and spokesperson for Negros Power in a statement said: “We maximized our redundant lines and load break switches to tie up the affected feeders to other feeders and substations with enough supply.”
Negros Power is simultaneously leveraging the NGCP shutdown window to accelerate its own system upgrades and rehabilitation works, a core component of its comprehensive five-year modernization program for the entire Central Negros area.
The company underscored that every scheduled NGCP interruption is treated as a valuable opportunity to perform internal network upgrades. This strategy aims to enhance system performance and reliability while minimizing the need for separate, additional consumer interruptions.
“We always make sure that every time NGCP requests a power interruption, we take advantage of that window to perform our upgrades,” Engr. Tambanillo noted.
He further highlighted that these rehabilitation initiatives have already resulted in a 70% reduction in unexpected power interruptions, demonstrating tangible progress toward the long-term objective of achieving 100% uninterrupted power service across Central Negros.
“Our ultimate goal is to make the entire Central Negros power distribution system smarter, stronger, and ultimately free from unscheduled power interruptions,” he concluded.
