MANILA -- Consumers of Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) may incur lower electricity bills this month as the cooperative announced an average reduction of about P0.22 per kilowatt hour (kWh) in its current power rate.
Ceneco caters to the largest number of electric consumers in the province including cities of Bacolod, Bago, Talisay, and Silay and towns of Murcia and Salvador Benedicto.
Its president Dwight Carbon, who attended the 44th Philippine Business Conference at the Manila Hotel on October 19, said current power rate for "affected consumers" is P11.6334 per kWh, which is P0.2240 per kWh lower than P11.8574 per kWh in September.
For "unaffected consumers," the rate for October is P11.3068 per kWh. The figure is P0.2170 lower than September's rate of P11.5238 per kWh, Carbon said.
Ceneco earlier explained that "affected consumers" pertain to electricity consumers who are affected by the recovery of Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (Psalm).
Also, they are covered by the adjustments Kepco Salcon Power Corporation (KSPC) and Energreen Development Corporation.
“Unaffected consumers,” on the other hand, are those who were not using electricity within the said relevant period but also covered by adjustments for KSPC and Energreen Development Corporation.
Adjustment for Psalm Gram and Icera in October is totaled to P14.2 million which will be collected from member-consumers at P0.3196 per kWh.
The KSPC adjustment, meanwhile, amounts to P232 million to be collected for 50 months, or a fix rate of P0.0817 per kWh.
"For consumers using 200 kWh per month, the P0.22 decrease in electricity rate translates into P43.20 savings or reduction from their electricity bills," he added.
The power distribution utility reported that the decrease is primarily brought about by the reduction in generation charge.
"When the temperature is cooler, the tendency is lower cost on generation," Carbon said.
Another factor contributing to power rate reduction is the cooperative's systems loss.
Ceneco reported that its systems loss rate for October is 10.96 percent, or an improvement of 0.90 percent from 11.66 percent in September. (EPN)