- CHERYL G. CRUZ
Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Benitez said Monday, March 20, his efforts to bring down the cost of electricity in the city have borne fruit, with a decrease in the Ceneco rates of P2.63 per kilowatt-hour in just four months, or from P16.2972/kWh in November to P13.6716/kWh this March.
Benitez, in a press conference streamed live on the BCD PIO Facebook page, said his letters in January questioning the two contract prices of electricity purchased by the Central Negros Electric Cooperative from Palm Concepcion Power Corporation (PCPC) was used by the latter to successfully renegotiate its contractual obligation with its Indonesian supplier and lower the rate.
He said the PCPC owner called him up and thanked him for his letters to Ceneco and the Energy Regulatory Commission, and told him they used it to “negotiate with their supplier in Indonesia para mapanaog ang rate…sang ila contractual obligation”.
“About P4.13/kWh ang napanaog nila from their existing arrangement (which translated to about) P1.20/kWh” reduction in the average residential rate of Ceneco for this month, the mayor said. He added in a post: “Salamat Ceneco! We have seen a constant decrease, I hope this keeps up”.
Ceneco acting general manager, Atty. Arnel Lapore, said Friday the more than P1/kWh decrease was mainly due to the downward adjustment of P3.68/kWh in the fuel cost of PCPC under its 20-megawatt Power Supply Agreement (PSA), and P0.2619/kWh in its 35MW PSA, both with the power coop. There was also a fuel discount of P1.05/kWh in the February 2023 billing for the latter’s PSA.
These two PSAs were the subject of Benitez’s letters, saying “the two different rates coming from one and the same power generator produces a lot of questions, among which is, if PCPC has been charging Ceneco with the correct power rates on its 33.25 percent power purchase considering that P10.2747/kWh is the latest contract price it had with Ceneco”.
The coop had said the variance is mostly due to the high cost of fuel.
Engr. Norman Pollentes, Ceneco Corporate Planning Department manager, also explained in January that they have two different rates from the same power generator because of the two PSAs.
Pollentes said the first PSA involves a 10-year contract, from 2017 to 2077, for a 35MW baseload power, and the other a one-year emergency agreement for a 20MW baseload supply that PCPC started delivering on July 6, 2022.
The 35MW PSA is at P14.6961/kWh, and the 20MW priced at P10.2747/kWh, or a variance of P4.42/kWh. Ceneco said the PSAs with PCPC have approval from the ERC and a Certificate of Exemption from the Department of Energy.
Meanwhile, Benitez said “there will be more reductions (in the power rate) as we start exploring different areas for our power supply”, especially in Negros Island where there are many solar energy companies.
“In principle, I was given the approval to directly deal with the power generators para diretso na…and we can negotiate friendlier rates,” he added.
Benitez said a power summit will also be held, to include power generators in the island, for possible arrangements that can directly give the city lower rates.
“It’s also looking better and better for our transition to green power. Hopefully, Bacolod will be one of the first local government units to be fully dependent on green power,” the mayor added./CGC
