The reduction in the price of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), the venue for trading electricity in the country, has brought down the average residential power rates of all three distribution utilities in Negros Occidental in August. These include the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco), Northern Negros Electric Cooperative (Noneco) and Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative (Noceco). In a statement Tuesday night, the Noneco management said its electricity rate decreased by PHP0.82 per kilowatt hour (kWh) to PHP11.73 for the current billing month from PHP12.55 in July. This is brought by a reduction in the WESM market price by PHP1.09 per kWh and also in the government charges and payable taxes in generation cost, it added. Covering this city and five neighboring localities, Ceneco announced a reduction of PHP.029 per kWh in August to PHP11.30, from PHP11.59 last month. ‘Generation charges decreased by 3.60 percent compared to previous month due to decrease in WESM price of PHP 1.27 per kWh,’ acting general manager Arnel Lapore said in a statement. He added there is also a decrease in other pass-through charges, such as inter-class cross-subsidy and value-added tax. Lapore advised consumers anew to check their kilowatt-hour consumption instead of the bill amount, which varies depending on the pass-through charges. ‘We continue to remind electricity consumers to conserve energy to avoid paying high electricity bills,’ he added. In the south, Noceco reported a power rate reduction of PHP1.75 per kWh, bringing down the cost to PHP11.61 in August from PHP13.37 in July. ‘The main factor in the reduction in generation charge is the PHP1.58 per kWh decrease in WESM,’ the management said in a statement, adding that the cost of power supplier Palm Concepcion Power Corp. has also decreased this month.
Source: Philippines News Agency
