A restaurant sits empty after a power outage struck Iloilo City, as seen in this photo taken on January 3, 2024. Photo courtesy of Arnold Almacen, Iloilo City Mayor's Office/file

(UPDATED) The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) said Friday that it noticed a shutdown of three units of the Panay Energy Development Corp. (PEDC) that led to a partial blackout in Panay and Negros.

"NGCP monitored the unplanned shutdown of PEDC Units 1,2, and 3 (316MW) at 6:59pm, 01 March 2024," the NGCP said in a statement.

Panay Island hit by power outage | ABS-CBN News 

"The unavailability of all PEDC units and the maintenance shutdown PCPC (135MW) until 30 March 2024 led to the partial blackout in Panay. Customers in Negros and Panay are affected."

 The NGCP said it is now looking into the cause of the shutdown.

It also denied that the tripping of any of its facilities caused the current partial blackout in Negros and Panay. 

This was in response to reports posted on social media that showed a video of a fire near a transmission tower.

"The line in the video was undamaged by the fire which was 15 meters away from the transmission tower. The transmission asset also did not trip or register a disturbance prior to the successive generator shutdowns," the NGCP said.

 "As of this time, the fire has been extinguished, and poses no further threat to the transmission facility."

Last January, Panay island and Guimaras experienced a four-day blackout that severely affected residents and their commercial establishments.

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