BACOLOD CITY, Philippines -- Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes and top officials of National Transmission Corp. (Transco) and National Power Corp. (Napocor) will meet with Negros Occidental leaders on Wednesday next week to address the worsening power situation in Western Visayas.

Negros Occidental Governor Isidro Zayco said the meeting would decide on an action plan to solve the alarming power situation in the province.

Transco president Art Aguilar and Napocor president Cyril del Callar will both attend the meeting at the Nature's Village Resort in Talisay City. Also attending are congressmen, mayors, power cooperative officers and other stakeholders, according to the governor.

Reyes and top energy officials will be in Negros and Panay islands to discuss the power situation with stakeholders amid concern raised by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo over the frequent power outages in Western Visayas, Aguilar said in a separate interview.

Zayco, who is batting for clean energy in the province in the face of global warming, said plans should be in place to prevent power shortages that could cripple businesses and scare off investors.

Ordinary consumers have been complaining that constant brownouts have destroyed equipment and appliances in homes, he said.

Zayco said he was informed that the brownouts experienced in Negros Occidental have been caused by the maintenance work being undertaken at the Palinpinon Geothermal Power Plants in Negros Oriental.

The Central Negros Electric Cooperative and the Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative have signed contracts to purchase coal-fired energy from Kepco-Salcon in Cebu but power from there will come in only after 2010.

The governor took note of other possible sources of electricity for the province, such as the proposed dams on the Bago River, projected to generate some 70 megawatts of hydroelectricity, but acknowledged that these would take time to take off.

Three firms have expressed interest in the Bago dam project, which would not only provide electricity but also irrigation, flood control and potable water, he said.

An energy official described the power shortage situation in Western Visayas as serious and said he was surprised that residents of the area have not been raising a fuss.

"The brownouts you are experiencing now will get even worse in the future if no new power plants are built in the area soon," said the official, who asked not to be named as he was not authorized to speak on the matter.

He also said that the constant opposition by groups to generation methods feared hazardous to the environment would only exacerbate the power shortage in the region.

At present, the Negros Occidental provincial board is being asked to concur with the bid of the Philippine National Oil Co. Energy Development Corp. to enter the buffer zone of the Mt. Kanlaon Natural Park to tap more geothermal power.

The move is being opposed by the Catholic diocese of Bacolod and environmentalists who are concerned about the possible destruction of biodiversity.