3 power coops in NegOcc reduce rates for December

ELECTRIC consumers in Negros Occidental may incur lower bills this month as all three cooperatives in the province have reduce their respective power rates for December.

The Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco), which caters to the biggest number of consumers in cities of Bacolod, Bago, Talisay and Silay, and towns of Murcia and Salvador Benedicto, reported a decrease of P0.6640 per kilowatt hour (kWh) – from P10.6958 in November to P10.0318 this month.

Ceneco president Roy Cordova Monday, December 18, said the reduction in power cost is mainly attributed to the decrease in generation charge.

“The Palm Concepcion Power Corporation (PCPC) is having its maintenance thus, we took advantage of the lower market price through the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM),” Cordova added.

The Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative (Noceco), catering to consumers in the south, from Pulupandan to Hinoba-an, has the biggest reduction of P1.17 per kWh.

Noceco’s overall electricity rate for residential consumers this month is at P8.6652 per kWh, lower than November’s P9.8384 per kWh.

This is the biggest reduction for electric consumers in the south since August last year, the cooperative noted.

Noceco general manager Jonas Discaya said the main driver of the lower electricity rate is the P1.0329 per kWh decrease in the generation charge.

This is the result of lower charge of WESM from which Noceco obtains a portion of its power supply, he said.

“However, it is expected that the generation rate for next month will return to the normal pricing when PCPC resumes its operation,” Discaya said, adding that systems loss and transmission charges also registered a reduction of P0.1222 and P0.0156 per kWh, respectively.

For the remaining cities and towns in the northern part of the province, the Northern Negros Electric Cooperative also projected a decrease of about P0.10 per kWh.

It said the expected decrease is also attributed to decrease in generation, because of lower WESM rate, and transmission charges.