NEGROS Occidental Electric Cooperative (Noceco) increased anew its power rate.
Noceco, which caters to localities from Pulupandan to Hinoba-an, announced a slight increase of P0.0044 per kilowatt hour (kWh) on its power rate for August.
From P11.2485 per kWh in July, it went up to P11.2529 per kWh this month.
Jon Discaya, general manager of Noceco, said the increases in transmission and systems loss charges, subsidy rates and value-added tax (VAT) on transmission resulted in higher electricity rate this month.
The transmission charge moved upward by P0.0012 per kWh.
Systems loss charges, subsidy rates and VAT, meanwhile, registered an increase of P0.0071 per kWh, P0.0194 per kWh, and P0.0096 per kWh, respectively, Discaya said.
“However, the generation charge and VAT on generation registered a total reduction of P0.0329 per kWh,” he said, adding that “the decreases on these charges cushioned the impact of the overall rate increase this month.”
Despite the increase in the current electricity rate, Noceco said its distribution, supply and metering charges remain unchanged.
Data obtained by SunStar Bacolod showed that this is the fourth consecutive months that the electric cooperative has increased its power rate.
In May this year, Noceco’s power rate was P11.5326 per kWh. It went up to P11.1952 per kWh in June.
The upward adjustments were mainly attributed to higher cost of energy from the Wholesale Energy Spot Market (WESM), which the cooperative is obtaining a portion of its power supply.
Aside from increases in generation and transmission charges, other factors included the implementation of the additional feed-in-tariff (FIT) allowance, particularly in June where an increase of about P0.16 per kWh was noted.
During the earlier months of the year, Noceco reported a power rate of P9.7840 per kWh in January, P9.8482 per kWh in February, P10.7381 per kWh in March, and P11.5326 in April.
The two other power distribution utilities in the province, Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) and Northern Negros Electric Cooperative (Noneco), have yet to announce their respective rates for this month.
For Noneco, the cooperative is expecting a decrease due to lower generation cost of power from WESM.