• CHERYL G. CRUZ
The Northern Negros Electric Cooperative (Noneco) said May 21 that its average residential rate this billing month of May also increased by P2.6995 per kilowatt-hour.
This means that Noneco member-consumers will pay P17.2669/kWh, from last month’s rate of P14.5674/kWh.
The upward adjustment was mainly due to the P4.4372/kWh increase in the cost of power purchased by Noneco from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, or at P12.6218 from the P8.1846/kWh rate in April.
Noneco’s residential rate this May is second highest among the three distribution utilities (DUs) serving Bacolod City and Negros Occidental residents.
The Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative (Noceco) rate is P17.9609/kWh, from the P14.6309/kWh in April, or an increase of P3.3300/kWh.
The Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco), meanwhile, earlier announced a hike of P3.2066/kWh from last month’s rate of P11.9566/kWh.
This means that member-consumers from Bacolod, Bago, Talisay, Silay, Murcia, and Don Salvador Benedicto will pay P15.1632 for each kilowatt-hour of electricity consumed.
Noneco, meanwhile, also posted an earlier advisory from the National Electrification Administration (NEA) explaining that the increase in electricity prices “is beyond the control of the DUs, or electric cooperatives (ECs)”.
NEA Administrator Antonio Almeda had said that “the rise in electricity prices is primarily due to the increase in the generation component of the electricity rates.”
This means that the costs incurred by the power suppliers are directly transferred to the ECs, and then to the consumers, without any markup from the EC, Almeda said.
“Recent reports indicate that the sweltering heat index across the Philippines, a factor beyond the control of the ECs, has significantly driven up the generation costs. This increase…is unavoidable, on the part of the ECs, and directly impacts the rates charged to member-consumer-owners (MCOs),” the NEA added. | CGC
