THE Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) and Northern Negros Electric Cooperative (Noneco) reported a drop in their respective power rates for this month.
Ceneco, which 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, has a current rate of P11.1044 per kilowatt hour (kWh).
The figure is P0.0989 per kWh lower than the cooperative’s rate of P11.2033 per kWh in March.
Roel Venus, chief of Ceneco’s Consumer Services Division, said the power distribution utility’s pass-through charges comprise 89.31 percent of the total rate for April.
Equivalent to P9.9178 per kWh, the pass-through charges comprised the generation and transmission charges, Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC)-approved adjustments, government subsidies and taxes.
Venus said the remaing 10.69 percent or P1.1866 per kWh goes to Ceneco specifically through distribution, supply and metering (DSM), re-investment fund for sustainable Capex (RFSC), and administrative and operational services.
Since 2010, Ceneco’s DSM and RFSC remained steady, he said, adding that “we advise consumers to look at their kilowatt consumption and not the amount of their monthly bills.”
The cooperative also reminded members to conserve energy to avoid incurring higher electric bills.
Noneco, catering to electric consumers in the north, from E.B. Magalona to San Carlos City, noted a decrease of P0.2321 per kWh this month.
From P11.7939 per kWh in March, it went down to P11.5618 per kWh this month.
Paulino Almedelia, Coporate Planning Department Manager of Noneco, said the decrease in power rate is attributed to a drop of P0.1569 per kWh in generation cost.
Almedelia said this is due to the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) power bill which has a significant net settlement surplus refund.
“The transmission and systems loss charges also decreased by P0.0881 per kWh,” he said, adding that this is on top of P0.0129 per kWh decrease for other charges.
These charges include the lower feed-in-tarriff rate for 2018 approved recently by the ERC.
For the remaining towns and cities in the south, the Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative (Noceco), meanwhile, reported an increase of P0.7120 per kWh.
From P10.4370 per kWh last month, the cooperative’s power rate for April moved up to P11.1490 per kWh.
Jonas Discaya, general manager of Noceco, said the main driver of the higher electricity rate is the P0.4430 per kWh increase in the generation charge, which moved from P5.4887 to P5.9317 per kWh.
The basis for the increase is the higher cost of energy charge from WESM which Noceco obtains a portion of its power supply, he added.
Other factors include upward movements in systems loss, subsidy and value added tax rates which registered an increase of P0.0800 per kWh, P0.0109 per kWh and P0.1893 per kWh, respectively.
Discaya said Universal Charge Stranded Debt (UCSD) also increased by P0.0163 per kWh.
He, however, said transmission charge registered a decrease of P0.0275 per kWh. Though, it was offset as the overall electricity rate went up.
“Noceco’s distribution, supply and metering charges remain unchanged despite the increase in the overall electricity rate for this month,” he added.