BAGUIO CITY — Residents of Baguio City and Benguet are facing a daylong power outage Wednesday as the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) and the Benguet Electric Cooperative (Beneco) carry out extensive maintenance and infrastructure upgrades.

The interruption began at 5 a.m. and is expected to last until 5 p.m. for most areas. The NGCP previously announced that the shutdown was necessary for electrical testing at the La Trinidad substation and maintenance along the 69kV line connecting La Trinidad and Sagada. The work also includes the energization of transformers for the Hedcor Ampohaw metering facility.

While NGCP work was scheduled to conclude at 3 p.m., Beneco officials said the outage in Baguio and Benguet will extend until 5 p.m. to allow for the normalization of power loads across the system.

The outage also affects the entire Mountain Province and parts of Cervantes and Quirino in Ilocos Sur.

Despite the temporary inconvenience, Beneco announced several major projects aimed at modernizing the region’s power grid in 2026.

On 16 January, the cooperative will begin the commercial loading of a new 50-megavolt ampere power transformer at the Lamut–Beckel substation in La Trinidad. The P50 million transformer will replace an older 20-megavolt ampere unit to address rising demand and stabilize the local supply.