Bacolod City – Power Watch Negros has called on the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Negros Occidental and Sangguniang Panlungsod of Bacolod City to conduct an inquiry on the recent widespread blackouts in the province.
Wennie Sancho, Power Watch Negros secretary general, in his letter to Vice Gov. Jeffrey Ferrer, said that the power outages, or frequency disturbance, caused serious disturbance to the consumers who are essentially being robbed of their right to quality life, let alone the negative impact such incidents have to the economy, and the resulting damage to properties.
Amidst these unscheduled power outages and intermittent blackouts, there has been a deluge of complaints and consumers are demanding explanations from the authorities, Sancho added.
In order to prevent more inconvenience brought about by power interruptions and voltage fluctuations and to avert the danger of massive power outage in the days to come, we are requesting for a public hearing or an inquiry to find out what really triggered the power outages and who should be made accountable, he further said.
A similar request of inquiry was also made by Sancho to the Bacolod City Council.
Amidst these unscheduled power outages and intermittent blackout, there has been a deluge of complaints and consumers, particularly in Bacolod City, are demanding explanations from authorities, which prompted Power Watch Negros to call for a public hearing, Sancho said.
This power disturbance prompted legislators in Western Visayas to call for a congressional inquiry to find out what really triggered the power outage, and who should be made accountable, he added.
Sancho also thanked Councilor Claudio Jesus Raymundo “Kalaw” Puentevella, chairman of the SP committee on Energy and Public Utilities, for authoring a Resolution requesting the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) to furnish the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Bacolod City reports on the status, causes, and actions taken on the series of power disturbances.
While we do not want to blame Ceneco in the midst of this grid or power disturbance pending investigation, it would be best to request for a public hearing on the issue of power disturbance, Sancho said.
The franchise area of Ceneco covers Bacolod, Bago, Silay, Talisay, Murcia and Don Salvador Benedicto, with 210,861 registered members and about 129,891, or 61 percent, from Bacolod City.
Ceneco services approximately 1,068,948 people, or about a third of the population of Negros Occidental. (Gilbert Bayoran via The Visayan Daily Star (TVDS), photo courtesy of TVDS)