• THERESA MAE DULMAN
The average residential electricity rates of Negros Electric and Power Corp. (NEPC) will decrease by three centavos per kilowatt-hour this September.
This means that the average residential power rates dropped to P14.2487/kWh from P14.2787/kWh in August, NEPC vice president and chief operating officer, Engr. Joe-Mel Zaporteza, said in a press briefing Sept. 22.
The decrease was due to the implementation of the Regional Secondary Price Cap (RSPC) ordered by the Energy Regulatory Commission for the Visayas and Mindanao grids.
The ERC ordered the price cap in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), retroactive to the August 2026 billing period, to “temper the extraordinarily high electricity prices”.
Because NEPC sourced 23 percent of its power supply from WESM, the recalculation brought its spot market generation cost from P18.59/kWh to P8.47/kWh, or a 54 percent reduction, in the Visayas region.
Meanwhile, NEPC Corporate Energy Sourcing and Regulatory Affairs manager, Engr. Christian John Villena, said they are currently awaiting guidelines from the ERC regarding the removal of the value-added tax (VAT) on system loss charges.
He said the company is coordinating with the Bureau of Internal Revenue to ensure the proper implementation of the directive.
“In the next 30 to 60 days, we are considering that the ERC will publish the guidelines on the implementation of the removal of VAT systems loss,” Villena said. | TMD
