AFTER two consecutive months of having higher electricity costs, the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) has announced a power rate drop for the month of September.
Ceneco caters to the largest number of electric consumers in the province including those in cities of Bacolod, Bago, Talisay and Silay, and the towns of Murcia and Don Salvador Benedicto.
The cooperative, in advisory, said its average residential rate for this month's billing is P12.2602 per kilowatt-hour (kWh).
The figure is P0.1122 per kWh lower than last month's rate of P12.3724 per kWh.
Laywer Dan Pondevilla, acting general manager and project supervisor of Ceneco, said the P0.1122 per kWh decrease can be attributed to the
reduction in generation, transmission, systems loss charges and other pass-through charges such as Lifeline and Senior Citizens Discount, Generation Rate Adjustment Mechanism (Gram) and Incremental Currency Exchange Rate Adjustment (Icera) adjustment, and value-added tax (VAT).
Pondevilla said the pass-through charges equivalent to P11.0736 per kWh of the total power rate include 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 Ceneco through
Distribution, Supply, Metering (DSM) charges and Reinvestment Fund for
Sustainable Capital Expenditures (RFSC) for its administrative and
operational services," he said, adding that since 2010, the cooperative's DSM and RFSC rates have not increased.
In monitoring the monthly electricity usage, consumers are advised to look at their kilowatt-hour consumption and not the amount.
The amount may vary depending on the pass-through charges as shown
above, the power distribution utility explained.
Ceneco Board and management continue to remind its electricity consumers to conserve energy to avoid paying high electricity bills, it added.