AS SUMMER heats up, electricity consumers in the Visayas are facing a significant increase in their bills this April, with the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) prices nearly doubling compared to previous months.
Jonathan Cabrera, spokesman of Negros Power, said the Negros Power rates are up by P0.8794 per kilowatt hour this April.
He said the power rates increased from P11.4766 per kilowatt hour (/kWh) in March to P12.3563/kWh in April, adding that it attributed the increase to the WESM prices that doubled from P3.5383/kWh to P6.6865/kWh in April.
Cabrera noted that the increase in WESM prices, driven by a combination of lower supply and higher demand, has had a ripple effect on electricity rates across the region.
Cabrera said the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) stated that the significant surge started in the first week of March 2025.
He said WESM prices in the Visayas increased by 95.5 percent, and this trend continued in the succeeding summer months.
He added that this surge was attributed to a combination of factors, including planned and forced outages, which is power plants, particularly coal and natural gas facilities, experienced planned and forced outages, reducing the electricity available in the grid.
It also include the increased demand where the extreme heat, which started in the first week of March, led to a 5.9 percent increase in energy supply demand in Visayas, reaching 13,670 MW.
Cabrera said this mismatch between supply and demand significantly impacted electricity prices. (MAP)