As the whole Mabalacat City suffers yet another round of power outage, the biggest business chamber in the province has called on Pelco to curb the citywide browouts.
Acting on complaints, the Pampanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PamCham) has written Pelco II leadership to convey members’ concern on power outages that “disrupt business operations, affecting productivity, equipment reliability, and service continuity.”
All but the 27 barangays of Mabalacat City on Saturday were again thrown to darkness from 8am to 4pm in a scheduled brownout. Previously, the city and few adjoining barangays of Magalang have also suffered 12-hour power interruptions due to “maintenance activity” by Pelco and NGCP.
“PamCham conveys the collective concern of its member companies regarding the increasing frequency and duration of scheduled and unscheduled power interruptions within PELCO lI’s service areas,” the June 11, 2025 letter stated. It was sent to Amador T. Guevarra, General Manager of Pelco II, signed by PamCham president Atty. Paul Yusi and Infrastructure Development Committee director in charge Atty Ryan Tan.
Yusi, in a separate text message, reminded utility companies to “serve public interests.”
“The nature of the business of distribution utility companies, such as those engaged in electric and water distribution, is impressed with utmost public interests. They are either created by law via renewable legislative franchise, by cooperation among members and utility users as in the case of cooperatives, or by contract such as joint venture agreements as in the case of parnership with local water districts. Their purpose is to serve public consumer interests”, he said.
The PamCham letter further stated: “These outages, including the 10-hour scheduled outage on June 5, 9 hours on June 7, and 8 hours on June 14 significantly disrupt business operations, affecting productivity, equipment reliability, and service continuity,” it added.
“While we acknowledge the necessity of infrastructure upgrades and preventive
maintenance, the recurrence of long outages during business hours, coupled with power disruptions, imposes severe operational challenges,” it added.
“These include unexpected downtime, equipment damage, increased operating costs, and reduced investor confidence due to power instability. PamCham stands ready to collaborate with PELCO Il and local stakeholders in supporting sustainable energy infrastructure.
“At the same time, we earnestly urge your office to recognize the growing economic burden that power instability places on businesses, and to take steps that will promote consistent, high-quality service delivery across your franchise areas,” the letter stated.
PNN would welcome reaction by Pelco and NGCP, if any.
