Electric consumers under the franchise area of the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (CENECO) should brace for higher electricity bills this month due to a significant rate increase, the power provider announced in a statement.
CENECO Acting General Manager lawyer Arnel Lapore said that the residential rate for May priced P15.1632/kWh, up by P3.2066/kWh from April’s rate of P11.9566/kWh.
This surge in rates is attributed primarily to a 31.96% increase in the Generation Charge, driven by a spike in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) price from P8.0879/kWh to P12.6706/kWh, he explained in a statement.
He undersocred however that only 8% of the total rate pertains to the utility’s Distribution, Supply, and Metering (DSM) charges and Reinvestment Fund for Sustainable CAPEX (RFSC), rates which have remained unchanged since 2010.
The remaining 92% of the total rate he said includes pass-through charges such as Generation and Transmission charges, ERC-approved adjustments, government subsidies, and taxes.
Given this development, CENECO urged consumers to conserve energy to mitigate the impact of the increased rates.
With the hike in rates, CENECO also reminded power consumers to focus on their kilowatt-hour consumption when monitoring their electricity usage, as bill amounts can vary based on pass-through charges. This comes as many consumers in April blasted CENECO for nearly a 50% increase in billing charges compared to previous months’ billing.
