Negros, Palawan opened to power firms

Power distributors other than the existing electric cooperatives in Negros Occidental and Palawan may now set up businesses in 69 areas in the two provinces that still have no regular services, according to the Department of Energy (DOE).

The DOE has declared six “remote, underserved and unserved” areas in Negros Occidental and 63 similar areas in Palawan as open for competition from “qualified third parties” (QTPs).

The QTP scheme is intended to provide communities in such areas an alternative source of electricity services as provided for in the implementing rules of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (Epira).