Power outage hits Negros, Panay after transformer blast

By Glazyl Y. Masculino

BACOLOD City – Residents of Panay and Negros Occidental suffered a power outage following an explosion of the automatic circuit recloser of Reclamation Feeder (RF5) of the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) at the Reclamation area here early Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022.

Some netizens were quick to post videos on social media of the explosion which allegedly occurred at the Bacolod Real Estate Development Corp. (Bredco) port, as sparks were visible from afar.

But based on the report of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), the blast occurred at around 12:58 a.m. at Purok Malipayon, Barangay 35, near the Reclamation area.

In its advisory posted on its official Facebook page, Ceneco said that there was a leakage in the distribution line insulator of RF5 situated along the Reclamation area.

“The activation of protective equipment due to transient fault, as the reason for the loss of power in the affected feeders 69 KV Bacolod-Silay, Bacolod-Reclamation, Bacolod-Bata, Bacolod-San Enrique, and Bacolod-Alijis-Murcia,” the power utility firm said.

Ceneco said they have not figured out yet the reason why the automatic tripping function of the RF5’s recloser failed to activate. Thus, instead of preventing the problem, the blast destroyed its cable wires.

The explosion also affected the transmission grid in Panay, according to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).

In an advisory, the NGCP said the whole of Panay and portions of Negros Occidental were affected.

According to the NGCP, the power loss at Panay and Negros subgrids was due to the isolation of NGCPs Bacolod-Kabankalan and Bacolod – Cadiz 138kV lines.

Power was later restored during the day.

No injuries were reported, while the blaze left P30,000 worth of damage, according to the BFP. Fire out was declared around 1:06 a.m.