Power coop: July rate hike minimal

A TOP official of the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) assured power consumers that it will impose only minimal power rate hike this July.

Instead of the earlier projected increase of P1.81 per kilowatt-hour, Ceneco president lawyer Arnel Lapore said the increase would only be 60 centavos to 70 centavos per kilowatt-hour.

Lapore said Kepco SPC, one of Ceneco’s power suppliers, said it was experiencing problem with one of its generating units while another unit is undergoing maintenance.

The problematic Unit 1 was switched off last June 25 while Unit 2, which is under maintenance, would be operation on July 10, according to the communication from Kepco.

In view of Kepco’s reduced generating capacity, it cannot provide the entire 64 megawatts contracted power to Ceneco. To prevent load-shedding in its coverage area, Ceneco is forced to get power from other independent power suppliers through the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).

The WESM does not produce electricity but is simply the trading floor where producers and consumers of electricity transact electric power supply.

Considering that Ceneco’s lacking power requirements is just “short-term” and is a “spot buy,” the rates are relatively higher compared to the rates of its long-term contracted power supply with its power suppliers like Kepco.

The difference between the Kepco rate and the spot buy rate will be passed on to the consumers, thereby affecting the July 2012 billing of Ceneco consumers.

Over the weekend, Kepco informed Ceneco that it was able to repair one unit, said Lapore.

The operation of one generating unit will mean that Ceneco will buy less power through the WESM and that the July rate increase would be lesser than what was initially projected if the two Kepco generation units were non-operational, explained Lapore.