Pelco-3: Power rate hike due to several factors

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO The management of Pampanga Electric Cooperative 3 or Pelco 3 on Wednesday clarified that the increase of power rates is due to several factors including generation and transmission charges by power producers.

Pelco 3 revealed the reason behind the increase on their rate for the month of August after it received numerous complaints from consumers through social media platforms.

Many consumers were apparently irked over the jump on Pelco-3’s from P12.5765 per kilowatt-hour on July to P15.8090 per kilowatt-hour this month.

They questioned the over P3 per kilowatt hour increase compared to the P0.21 per kilowatt-hour decrease in rate of Meralco equivalent to an overall rate of only P9.5458 per kilowatt-hour this month.

Pelco-3 General Manager Elizabeth Urbano said generation nd transmission charges primarily caused the power rate hike.

She said the increase in generation charge is caused by continuous rise of coal, which is used to produce electricity, in the global market.

According to Trading Economics, the prices of coal reaches up to US$413 per metric ton this August.

This is higher compared to the US$375 per metric ton recorded in July, and far from the US$159 per metric ton recorded in December 2021.

The current prices of coal caused the Pelco-3’s generation charge to rise to P10.8735/kWh, or about 68% of the total bill.

Pelco-3 pays generation charges to its power producer — the San Miguel Corporation’s Mariveles Coal Power Plant.

“As a distribution utility, kung magkano namin nabili ang kuryente kay San Miguel Energy ay ganun din namin ipapasa sa consumers. No mark-up from Pelco-3 dahil kami ay non-stock and non-profit organization,” Urbano clarified.

Aside from the generation charge, part of the monthly electricity bill is the distribution charge.

This, according to Urbano, is around 1.5% of the bill as regulated by the National Electrification Administration.

The operational expenses of the electric coop's distribution utility to provide its services to consumers is also added to the account.

Additional charges such as lifeline and senior citizens discount subsidies are likewise included.

A five percent discount is given to elderly consumers with 100-kilowatt hours and below consumption as mandated by RA 9994.

The lifeline subsidy of up to 35 percent of their bill, depending on the number of consumption, is also given to marginalized coop members who consume power below a threshold level.

Subsidies are not fully shouldered by the government but passed on to other consumers, Urbano disclosed.

The last component of the bill is the government charges which mostly comprises Extended Value Added Tax (eVAT).

Under this, consumers are charged at least three kinds of eVAT including the generating and transmission companies, and distribution utility respectively.

These fees usually go up when the generation charge increases, according to Urbano.

“Ito po ang breakdown ng bills natin na kung minsan hindi napapansin. Well accounted naman ang bawat piso na sinisingil natin sa mga consumers natin and they can reach us for questions anytime,” she said.

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