(Photo courtesy of INEC Facebook)
LAOAG CITY – The Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative is gifting consumers with an early Christmas present as it announced a further decline in power rates this December.
Residential consumers can expect a reduction of PHP0.6390 per kilowatt hour (kWh) this month, according to acting INEC general manager Cipriano Martinez in an interview Monday.
“From August 2023, INEC has managed to decrease the electricity rates from PHP14.7368 to PHP10.7656 totaling PHP3.9712 decrease in four months,” he said.
He hopes that through efficient trading in the wholesale spot market and continuous negotiations with power suppliers, INEC will be able to achieve its target to reduce power rates to a single-digit number or less than PHP10/kWh by the first quarter of 2024.
“INEC management and its Board of Directors wish that the PHP0.6390 per kilowatt hour decrease in the December rates will in one way or another contribute joy, give hope, and bring light to the holiday season to all of our member consumer owners,” Martinez said.
“Keep up the good work INEC. I hope it will decline further. This is a big help for us in these trying times,” netizen Zeny Amorin posted on Facebook.
To sustain the decrease in power rates and improve the efficiency of the lone distribution utility’s services in the province, Martinez said they will continue to exercise all means to get supply at a lower cost.
He said they have spoken with traders to monitor the best time to purchase from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market.
Early on, the INEC entered into an emergency power supply agreement with AboitizPower to lock down rates and supply ahead of the seasonal demand uptick during the holidays.
This means that majority of the power supply of Ilocos Norte has a locked-down rate of PHP6.65/kWh from AboitizPower for one year effective October 2023. (PNA)
