NEGRENSES may incur higher bills this month as all three electric cooperatives have announced an increase in their power rates.
The Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco), which caters to the largest number of electric consumers in the province, will have an increase of P1.0659 per kilowatt hour (kWh).
From last month’s P9.4019 per kWh, the cooperative’s rate for December is P10.4678 per kWh.
Ceneco covers the cities of Bacolod, Bago, Talisay and Silay, and towns of Murcia and Salvador Benedicto.
Its officer-in-charge general manager Engineer Jose Taniongon, in an advisory, said the power rate hike can be attributed to the increase in generation, transmission and systems loss charges, subsidies, and value-added taxes (VAT).
Taniongon said the pass-through charges equivalent to P9.2812 per kWh of the total power rate included the generation and transmission charges, Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC)-approved adjustments, government subsidies and taxes.
Only P1.1866 per kWh of the power rate goes to the power distribution utility through Distribution, Supply, Metering (DSM) charges and Reinvestment Fund for Sustainable Capex (RFSC) for its administrative and operational services.
Since 2010, Ceneco’s DSM and RFSC rates have not increased, he added.
For Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative (Noceco), catering to consumers in the south, its rate for this month is higher by P0.7171 per kWh.
The cooperative, which covers Pulupandan to Hinoba-an, announced that from P10.1698 per kWh in November, it went up to P10.8869 per kWh in December.
Jonas Discaya, general manager of Noceco, said the main driver of the higher electricity rate is the P0.6443 per kWh increase in the generation charge. It moved from P5.2421 to P5.8864 per kWh.
Discaya said there’s also an increase of P1.4158 per kWh from Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM); systems loss charge – P0.0689 per kWh; and VAT in generation rate – P0.0171 per kWh.
The overall rate increase, however, was cushioned by the reduction in transmission rate of residential customers – P0.0100 per kWh; VAT in transmission rate of residential customers - P0.0020 per kWh; Power Supply Agreement (PSA) from Palm Concepcion Power Corporation – P0.1672 per kWh; PSA from Kepco Salcon Power Corp. – P0.0420 per kWh; and subsidy rates - P0.0012 per kWh.
Noceco’s DSM charges, on the other hand, remain unchanged despite the increase in the overall electricity rate for this month.
“Consumers are advised to conserve energy and be aware of their energy consumption to avoid paying high electricity bills,” he said, adding that generation and transmission are pass-on charges paid to the respective power suppliers and National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).
Thus, the collected amount on these charges are not retained by Noceco, the general manager also said.
For the remaining cities and towns in the north, the Northern Negros Electric Cooperative (Noneco) will have an increase of P0.5432 per kWh for December.
Noneco Corporate Planning Manager Paulino Almedelia said the current rate is P11.0793 per kWh, which is higher than P10.5271 per kWh in November.
Almedelia said the adjustment is a result of increases in generation cost – P0.4520 per kWh; transmission cost – P0.0749 per kWh; and other taxes – P0.0163 per kWh.
“The significant increase was due to the increase of WESM or spot market pricing,” he added.