MITCH M. LIPA
Ten electric cooperatives servicing consumers in Western Visayas said they have been greatly affected by the high cost of generation charges that has also become a common complaint of electricity users all throughout the region recently.
The matter was discussed by members of the Board of Directors of the Central Negros Electric Cooperative and the management in a forum held yesterday and participated in by consumers group, the business sector, civil society, nongovernment organizations, and representatives from the Social Action Center of the Diocese of Bacolod.
The high price of electricity in the market started June to date. In the forum, the panellists said the spike in power rates, especially for the month of August, was due to the damaged submarine cable of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines connecting Cebu to Negros-Panay.
The incident triggered an imbalance in the power requirement intended for all electric cooperatives in the region. This prompted the coops to automatically get their supply from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market.
The generation charge of the power generators triggered the increase in power rates because of the expensive price in the electricity market, while the Distribution, Supply and Metering (DSM) charge of the electric coops remains the same.
Ceneco also clarified that the DSM charges are the only portion in the electricity bill collected by a cooperative to sustain its services and operations. –MML
