Stakeholders of the Northern Negros Electric Cooperative (NONECO) have begun exploring a joint-venture arrangement similar to the CENECO-Primelectric deal amid persistent reliability concerns in its coverage area.

The interest comes as Negros Power pushes ahead with a P2.1-billion modernization program in Central Negros, where more than P1.2 billion has been invested over two years into the CENECO-Primelectric partnership.

The program covers the replacement of deteriorating lines, substation upgrades, modern meters, and other projects aimed at improving reliability and reducing system losses.

Negros Power has pursued the modernization without increasing its basic distribution rates. The utility serves more than 220,000 active accounts across Bacolod, Bago, Talisay, Silay, Murcia and Don Salvador Benedicto.

Negros Power President and CEO Roel Z. Castro said Wednesday the partnership combines the local knowledge of an electric cooperative with the capital and management capabilities of a private-sector company.

Among the major projects is the P79-million Lacson Street Underground Distribution System in Bacolod, which is replacing overhead lines with an underground network along a major city thoroughfare to improve resilience and address the proliferation of wires.

The company is also setting aside P250 million for sitio energization projects covering 232 underserved rural communities.

More than 33 percent of its power supply comes from indigenous geothermal resources.

Negros Power has cited improvements in system reliability, including efforts to eliminate insulator failures and reduce feeder losses, as early indicators of the modernization program’s impact.

To recall, Primelectric proposed the partnership in 2023 as CENECO faced financial and operational challenges. It eventually acquired a 70-percent stake in distribution assets valued at more than P2 billion after CENECO member-consumers approved the joint venture through plebiscites.

Negros Power also retained and regularized more than 200 former CENECO employees and honored existing collective bargaining agreements, which allowed the operator to retain CENECO’s institutional and local expertise.