BACOLOD City Councilor Wilson Gamboa, Jr. has urged the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) to settle pass-on charges and refund member-consumers with the differential amount caused by the recent extension of its power supply agreement (PSA) with Kepco Salcon Power Corp. (KSPC).
Also, he is pushing for the refund on the congestion and other charges attributable to the damaged submarine cable of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).
Gamboa, in a statement Sunday, October 24, said Ceneco earlier announced that there will be a decrease of P2.0814 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for this month’s billing due to the reduction in generation, transmission, systems loss charges and other pass-on charges.
The rate for October is P10.1788 per kWh, compared to last month’s P12.2602 per kWh.
“(But) this does not include the price differential refund or rebate to Ceneco consumers as ordered by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) in its September 20, 2021 letter of directing the Philippine Electricity Spot Market Corporation (PEMC), which manages the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, stating to stop collecting congestion charges and other fees which were collected for the billing months of June to August 2021 due to the damaged submarine cable of the NGCP,” he said.
He added that the ERC acted favorably on the complaints of electric cooperatives and consumers in Negros and Panay to refund the consumers on the charges mentioned above due to the damaged Cebu-Negros submarine cable.
Gamboa added that they will hold a public hearing on October 25 at the Sangguniang Panlungsod to discuss the matter.
The councilor reiterated his position urging Ceneco to also refund the hefty differential amount caused by the recent extension of the PSA with KSPC at a reduced capacity of 20 megawatts from 40 megawatts power contract at the rate of P5.42 per kWh estimated to be P367.7 million for one year.
This is P1 million a day burden for Ceneco consumers, he said.
Gamboa claimed that Ceneco failed to implement the winning bidder’s price of P3.29 and insisted on extending the power contract at P5.42 per kWh with KSPC for one year starting May 26, 2021, of which the price differential must be refunded.