Bacolod City – Consumers of the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) may see a P2 per kilowatt hour reduction in their electric bills for June.
Residential rates for May was P15.1632 per kWh, an increase of P3.2066 per kWh from the previous month.
Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez is asking the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to expedite the approval of the implementation of the contract between Energy Development Corporation (EDC) and Ceneco, so consumers can feel the reduction in electricity rates.
Ceneco applied for provisional authority as early as March 15, but this has not been approved until now. Once approved, Ceneco will get power from EDC at the rate of P5.56 per kWh, he said.
Benitez said that based on ERC guidelines, the application will be deemed approved and can be executed after 60 days. Until it is approved, ERC will continue to enjoy high prices offered by WESM (Wholesale Electricity Spot Market).
“After a series of discussions with ERC, l have asked the Commission to declare Western Visayas under red alert in order to suspend our trading with the spot market,” he said.
Benitez said that during his recent visit to Ceneco, he found out that the price of WESM being charged by Ceneco was P12.20 when there is supposed to be a price cap of P6.30. So Ceneco will be reviewing its computation.
“Saturday was the last day of calculation of our bill for June. Based on our initial calculation, our bill will go down from P15 to almost P2. The generation charge passed on to us is about P10.55. So that will go back to about P8,” he said. (Chrysee Semillano via The Visayan Daily Star)