Poe tells NGCP: Expedite completion of Cebu-Panay-Negros project

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Grace Poe on Thursday renewed her call for the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) to expedite the completion of the Cebu-Panay-Negros project and all pending transmission projects in the country.

In a statement, Poe stressed that “delay is a denial of public service” after NGCP issued an advisory saying its Panay Energy Development Corporation (PEDC) Unit 1 is still on maintenance shutdown from February 1 to 17.

READ: NGCP ‘can’t intervene on matters in power generation’ amid Panay outage

As a result, NGCP said it may implement manual load dropping to “preserve the integrity of the Panay sub-grid.”

NGCP’s move, however, did not sit well with Poe, who chairs the Senate committee on public services.

“NGCP’s resort to rotational brownout is not solving the problem. While this may prevent another domino effect of plant tripping and eventual collapse of the grid, we need a more proactive stance from our sole power transmission operator,” said Poe.

It then prompted her to reiterate her call for NGCP to fast-track the completion of pending transmission projects in the Philippines, specifically noting the Cebu-Panay-Negros project.

“Hangga’t may delay, walang seguridad ang suplay ng kuryente, hindi lamang sa Panay kundi sa buong bansa,” she emphasized.

(As long as there is a delay, there is no security in the electricity supply, not only in Panay but in the entire country.)

She likewise pointed out that apart from the delay in the completion of these projects, periodic maintenance of power plants remained a problem.

“Palm Concepcion Power Corporation’s failure to conduct plant maintenance as scheduled in August 2023 had a negative effect not only to its operations but to the entire power supply in Panay. The Energy Regulatory Commission should also look into NGCP’s limited visitational powers. This effectively prevents proper monitoring of the plants,” she added.

Apart from these, Poe also maintained that the public, especially dwellers in Panay, should be made aware of how long the power crisis hounding their area would be.

READ: NGCP: Brace for another possible power outage in Panay