Residential rates of three electric cooperatives in Negros Occidental decreased in December mainly due to lower generation and transmission charges.
As of Tuesday, the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco), Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative (Noceco), and Northern Negros Electric Cooperative (Noneco) reported lower rates for the current month’s billing.
In an advisory, Ceneco acting general manager Danny Pondevilla said the reduction can be attributed to the decrease in generation, transmission, systems loss charges, and other pass-through charges such as lifeline and senior and value-added taxes.
For December, Ceneco, which posted a reduction of ₱ 1.2911 per kilowatt hour (kWh), now has a rate of ₱ 9.8362, from last month’s average rate of ₱ 11.1273.
Also this month’s pass-through charges totaled to ₱ 8.6496 per kWh compared to ₱ 9.9407 per kWh hour in November. Ceneco serves the most number of consumers in the province, covering the cities of Bacolod, Bago, Talisay and Silay, and towns Murcia and Salvador Benedicto.
In the south, Noceco reported a decrease of almost ₱ 1.47 per kWh.
This month, its residential rate dropped to ₱ 7.4333 per kWh from the previous month’s ₱ 8.999.
General manager Jonas Discaya said the main driver of the lower electricity rate is the ₱ 1.1940 per kWh decrease in the generation charge, which moved from ₱ 4.3099 in November to only ₱ 3.1159 per kWh this month.
The decrease in generation charge is due to the reduction of the power cost at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), he added.
WESM’s current average price is ₱ 2.1857 per kWh from the past month’s ₱ 3.1499 per kWh.
In the north, Noneco posted a power rate drop of ₱ 1.05 per kWh in December for a current rate of ₱ 8.9936 per kWh from last month’s ₱ 10.1802 per kWh mainly due to the decrease in generation charge.
(Erwin Nicavera via Philippine News Agency (PNA), photo courtesy of PNA)