Biz leader ties power-cost relief to NEPC investments

BACOLOD CITY — A business leader is urging the Negros Electric and Power Corporation (NEPC) and the City of Bacolod to cut power costs and reduce outages, steps the utility is already spending billions of pesos to take.

Frank Carbon, vice chair of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) Energy and Power Committee and vice president of the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry, presented the recommendations in a June 26 statement built around a “What’s In It For Us” (WIIFU) framework that, he said, breaks down the shared and individual benefits for NEPC and Bacolod to ensure a win-win outcome.

The recommendations come as consumers absorb a steep June rate increase and as repeated red and yellow alerts force rotating power cuts across the Visayas.

Negros Power’s average residential rate rose to PHP 13.8417 per kilowatt-hour in June 2026, up PHP 2.4609 per kWh from May, while manual load dropping across MORE Power, Negros Power, and Bohol Light from May 13 onward affected a combined 645,400 customers, with the Visayas Grid placed under repeated yellow alerts and one confirmed red alert on June 10.

For both the utility and the city, Carbon cited economic synergy, climate and resilience preparedness, and public trust, arguing that cheaper and more reliable power lowers the cost of doing business, attracts commercial and industrial investment, and reduces consumer friction.

For NEPC, he urged a drastic reduction in system losses through smart infrastructure and the repair of distribution leaks, lower operational expenditures through automated load-transfer systems and upgraded substations, peak load optimization through demand-side management, and stronger compliance with Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) performance targets.

For Bacolod and its consumers, Carbon said lower generation and distribution costs would provide immediate financial relief, protect small businesses and the work-from-home sector, boost industrial competitiveness, and improve public safety through dependable street lighting and traffic systems.

Each of those asks maps onto work NEPC has been funding since it began operations.

The utility, a joint venture in which Primelectric Holdings Inc. holds a 70-percent controlling stake and the former Central Negros Electric Cooperative (CENECO) retains 30 percent, was incorporated on July 31, 2024, to supersede CENECO and began operations that August. Negros Power emerged from a joint venture ratified in a plebiscite by the majority of CENECO’s customers in August 2023, and was incorporated on July 31, 2024, to supersede CENECO.

The company is implementing a PHP 2.5-billion, five-year rehabilitation and development plan to improve electricity quality across its franchise area, which covers the cities of Bacolod, Bago, Silay, and Talisay, and the municipalities of Murcia and Don Salvador Benedicto.

For 2026, the Enrique Razon Jr.-led distributor has framed its capital works as a distinct push. The Bacolod upgrades form part of a PHP 1.3-billion modernization program covering the company’s power system, substations, lines, transformers, and poles.

A centerpiece is the rehabilitation of the 69-kilovolt Bacolod-Bata sub-transmission line, which speaks directly to Carbon’s call to cut outages and equipment overloading.

Negros Power is increasing the line’s capacity from 126 megavolt-amperes to 220 megavolt-amperes and is building two 37.5-megavolt-ampere substations, the Capitol Substation, targeted for the fourth quarter of 2026, and the Megaworld Substation, targeted for early 2027, raising the number of substations in its franchise area to 13 from 11.

The company has allocated more than PHP 600 million for the two substation projects.

To bridge capacity while permanent facilities are built, the utility is deploying a 37.5-megavolt-ampere mobile substation, a PHP 192-million facility scheduled for installation within the year.

NEPC has also moved on the resilience and aesthetics points Carbon raised. It broke ground on November 13, 2024, for a one-kilometer underground distribution project along Lacson Street costing PHP 79 million, a stretch the company has said will eventually span six kilometers.

On reliability, the utility reported a completed backbone upgrade in mid-2025. Negros Power finished rehabilitating the 30-kilometer Bacolod-Silay 69-kilovolt sub-transmission line, replacing aging porcelain insulators with more durable polymer versions across 266 structures spanning 29.87 circuit kilometers.

The investment has coincided with customer growth. Negros Power grew from 177,737 customers in August 2024 to around 250,000, with a workforce of more than 400 employees, half of them former CENECO staff.

On Carbon’s central ask, lower bills, the trend has been volatile. Rates eased through May before the June spike, a swing the utility attributes to generation charges.

Negros Power said the June increase was driven mainly by higher generation costs and a sharp rise in Wholesale Electricity Spot Market prices, which are pass-through charges and do not form part of the distribution utility’s revenues, rather than by the distribution-side efficiencies Carbon urges.

On system losses, the utility has set a target consistent with his recommendation. Negros Power aims to reduce system losses by 70 percent over five years through equipment upgrades, replacement of old transformers, repair of rusty structures, and vegetation clearing.

The near-term test will be visible. The Capitol and Megaworld substations are the first two NEPC has built since it began operations in August 2024, and their completion, alongside the Bacolod-Bata line upgrade, will indicate whether the spending Carbon endorses can hold down outages and bills at the same time.