Malacon slams Noneco's inefficiency to address power outages

E.B. Magalona Mayor Marvin Malacon slams the Northern Negros Electric Cooperative (Noneco) on its inefficiency to address the long power outages that mostly affected the town. The power outages that also affected other service areas of Noneco started in the early morning of Monday, October 15.

It has affected everyone in the town, especially the students and the business sector, Malacon said. He said Noneco has not been giving them concrete answers as to when to bring the power in all areas as there are reports that power will be restored in hinterland barangays next week.

The power outages happened after the explosion of Noneco's transformer which they borrowed from Central Negros Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Ceneco) for about a year already and the power distribution company is reportedly lacking in budget to purchase new transformers for its sub-station.

Some areas reportedly got temporary power from Negros Power's sub-station in Silay City. Malacon said since last year he has already sent a letter to Dorothy Evangelists, OIC General Manager of Noneco after last August 28 to September 3, 2023, the 15 MVA Substation Transformer at Bacayan, Victorias City malfunctioned, and the result of the testing was that the unit was unsafe to energize due to the internal fault of the transformer.

Malacon has informed Noneco that the whole area of the municipality of E.B. Magalona encountered a blackout for almost five (5) days because of the damaged transformer. " Luckily, we have Mayor Javi Benitez of the City of Victorias who facilitated to borrowing of one (1) unit 15 MVA Substation transformer from Ceneco," Malacon stated. He also inquired from the OIC GM if the damaged unit was already repaired, and in case, anytime the borrowed transformer gets into trouble, or will be taken back by Ceneco, they have a spare unit to replace it.

"We don't want to encounter again the same long blackout, as it hampers business operations and causes inconvenience to the lives of the Saraviahanons. We look forward to your immediate action on this matter," he emphasized in his letter. Malacon said Noneco failed to address the concerns until it happened again this week. (TDE)