Water, power rate hike loom

WATER and power rate increases for consumers under the service areas of Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) and Bacolod City Water District (Baciwa) are looming.

Lawyer Juliana Carbon, general manager of BACIWA, confirmed Wednesday they have applied for a water rate increase with the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA).

Carbon said, if approved by LWUA, the increase may take effect either in September or October this year and that proper information dissemination will be made once the approval is there.

Once the increase takes effect, the present rate of P208 for the minimum consumption of the first ten cubic meters will increase to P248 at P20.80 per cubic meter for the first ten cubic meters. For the succeeding 11 to 20 cubic meters, the rates will be at P22 per cubic meter, Carbon said.

The rate increase is due to the rise of electricity rates, as Baciwa pays an average of P6.5 million for its monthly electricity bills, she added.

The increase is socialized, which means that the more consumption the consumer will have, the higher they would pay for their water bills.

On the part of Ceneco, Cheryl Tortal of the Promotions Section has confirmed an increase of power rate to P1 per kilowatt hour from P9.80 to P10.80 per kilowatt hour is implemented by the electric cooperative effective August.

However, she said the rate increase is only temporary. The increase is due to the repairs done in some units of Kepco Salcon's coal fired power plant which prompted Ceneco to source out some of its power requirements from the more costly Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).

Ceneco is left with no choice but to get power from WESM or else power black outs would have been experienced by the consumers, she explained.

The increase is reflected on the Generation Charge in the August electric bills of Ceneco's consumers. (Teresa D. Ellera)