CONSUMERS in Iloilo City will see higher electricity bills this September as power rates increased to P12.44 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for residential customers, up by P1.56/kWh from August's rate of P10.88/kWh.
Commercial consumers will also face higher charges, with the rate climbing to P11.76/kWh compared to P10.19/kWh in August.
More Electric and Power Corporation (More Power) explained that the adjustment was caused by factors beyond the control of distribution utilities, including higher costs of power supply in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) following multiple yellow alert status advisories issued by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) in August.
“When NGCP issues a yellow alert, this means that the supply margin falls below the capacity of the largest generating unit in the grid. This indicates that the available supply is insufficient to meet demand securely, especially amid rising demand,” More Power said in its advisory.
The company also noted that generation and transmission charges went up, reflecting higher regulated transmission and reserve market prices. For this month, More Power’s generation charge rose to P6.1437/kWh from P4.9128/kWh in August, mainly due to the surge in WESM prices.
“These are pass-through expenses that distribution utilities are required to incorporate into the consumers’ accounts,” the company added.
Despite the increase, More Power assured its customers that service quality remains unchanged. “The company assures the public that it is working hard to ensure that it continues to deliver reliable, safe, and affordable electric service to every home and business,” More Power said. (Leo Solinap/SunStar Philippines)