BACOLOD CITY -- All three electric cooperatives in Negros Occidental reported a decrease in power rates for the month of May.
The Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) has two separate rates this month -- one for “affected consumers” and another for “unaffected consumers.”
Ceneco general manager Sulpicio Lagarde Jr. aaid “affected consumers” are those affected by the recovery of Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (Psalm) while the “unaffected consumers” are those not using electricity within the relevant period.
Power rate for “affected consumers” is PHP11.1830 per kilowatt hour (kWh), lower by PHP0.7191 than the PHP11.9020 per kWh in April.
“Unaffected consumers” are charged PHP10.8792 per kWh, which is lesser by PHP0.7135 compared to the previous month’s rate of PHP11.5926 per kWh.
The recovery from Psalm covers Generation Rate Adjustment Mechanism (Gram), Incremental Currency Exchange Rate Adjustment (Icera), and Automatic Cost Recovery Mechanism (ACRM) True-up Adjustment within the relevant period covering January 2007 to April 2010, as per Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) order dated June 20, 2017.
This took effect in April this year and will be implemented for 60 months.
Ceneco will also implement recovery adjustments for Kepco-Salcon Power Corporation and Energreen Development Corporation.
Engineer Leomel Tambanillo, Ceneco corporate planning manager, said the drop in May power rates is mainly due to decreases in the generation and transmission and systems loss charge and decrease in all value-added tax (VAT) charges.
Meanwhile, Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative (Noceco) will decrease its power rate by PHP0.50 -- from PHP11.5326 in April to only PHP11.0306 per kWh in May.
Noceco general manager Jonas Discaya said the lower rate can be largely attributed to the PHP0.2802 per kWh decrease in the generation charge -- from PHP6.0505 to only PHP5.7703 per kWh.
The Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), from which Noceco sources part of its power supply, has lower energy cost for May while systems loss charge, transmission charge, and subsidy rates also decreased.
“With the decrease on generation and transmission charges, the VAT on these charges also went down by PHP0.0124 per kWh,” Discaya said.
For its part, the Northern Negros Electric Cooperative (Noneco) posted a decrease of almost PHP0.78 per kWh in May -- from PHP12.43 in April to only PHP11.65 per kWh this month.
Noneco corporate planning manager Paulino Almedelia said decreases in generation, transmission, and other charges totaled PHP0.7789 per kWh.
He noted that generation charge decreased by PHP0.4981 per kWh; transmission, PHP0.1588 per kWh; and other charges, PHP0.1229 per kWh. (PNA)
