• CHERYL G. CRUZ
The Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative said its average residential rate this billing month of November increased by P2.1257 per kilowatt-hour, which means that its member-consumers will be paying P15.0388/kWh.
The increase, from the P12.9131/kWh rate in October, was “primarily driven by higher generation charges due to significant price hikes in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM),” Noceco said in an advisory Nov. 13.
It added that fluctuations in foreign exchange rates affecting fuel costs, and the increased transmission charges imposed by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) have contributed to the overall rate increase.
Noceco, which serves MCOs in Pulupandan, San Enrique, Valladolid, Pontevedra, La Castellana, Moises Padilla, Isabela, Hinigaran, Binalbagan, Himamaylan, Kabankalan, Ilog, Candoni, Cauayan, Sipalay, Hinoba-an, and La Carlota City, is dependent on WESM for its power needs, which logged a P2.2014/kWh increase in the traded electricity prices, or at P9.3128/kWh this month, from P7.1114 in the October billing.
It also has power supply agreements (PSAs) with PCPC and GNPower, both coal-based plants, which also hiked their prices following fluctuations in the international coal pricing.
“To mitigate the impact of these factors, Noceco is following up with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to secure approval for the new contract with KEPCO Salcon Power Corporation (KSPC) that will reduce exposure to the volatile WESM,” the distribution utility said.
It is also collaborating with other electric cooperatives in the Visayas to push for the possible suspension of the reserve market for ancillary services (AS), Noceco said, adding the AS rate “has significantly contributed to increased transmission charges.”
Atty. Cynthia Perez-Alabanza, head of the NGCP Public Relations Department, said Nov. 13 that “if there’s a fluctuation in the bill attributed to transmission charge, in all likelihood at 99 percent, it will be the AS.”
She said the NGCP does not profit from the AS charge as this “goes straight to the (power) generators.”
The ancillary rate is lumped with the NGCP transmission charge in the consumer’s bill, hence the mix-up that the former also goes to the grid operator.
Alabanza said that starting the August billing, there were substantial fluctuations in the AS rate, especially in the Visayas. “We were collecting more for ancillary than what we were charging for our primary service of delivering power (transmission wheeling rate).”
The NGCP said AS “are support services needed to stabilize and manage the grid during instances of power supply-demand imbalance. These services are necessary to support transmission capacity and are essential in maintaining power quality, reliability, and security of the grid.”
NGCP is mandated by the Department of Energy to contract AS through bidding, with the Ancillary Services Procurement Agreement (ASPA) subject to ERC approval. As of June 30, 2024, there were more than 35 existing AS providers in Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao, including the Kabankalan Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) of the SMGP Kabankalan Power Co. Ltd., based in Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental.
NGCP Visayas System Operations head Neil Martin Modina said during a forum in Bacolod Wednesday that the Kabankalan BESS is a 20MW± energy storage asset. “This means that it can inject or absorb 20 megawatts” to help maintain power quality of the grid during an imbalance, he added. | CGC
