ILOILO – As power rate increase, former congresswoman and now Department of Energy (DOE) undersecretary Sharon Garin urged the public to conserve energy.
Garin, in an interview over Aksyon Radyo Iloilo, emphasized that energy security is a problem, especially since the country’s electricity is very dependent on coal and oil, mostly sourced abroad.
“Puro ni siya imported. Maski ara da sa Semirara, pero ang laban sang coal halin gid na ya outside, halin sa Indonesia. More than 37% of our electricity ang supply is coal tapos ang sa oil 34%,” said Garin.
She also cited that the best solution to the problem of electricity is for the country to generate its own energy sources, which include renewable energy and indigenous energy such solar, wind, hydro, and gas.
The Ilongga undersecretary is hopeful that in the future, when the country will have more renewable energy and have more sources of energy, the supply and the rates will stabilize.
“Pero subong indi naton ma-control. Best way for now, energy conservation gid ang aton obrahon,” she added.
For the time being, the Energy department, led by Secretary Raphael Lotilla, is looking for ways to provide enough and affordable power to Filipinos.
Garin further noted that the application and approval of power rates is a long process and depends on the prices of coal and oil in the international market.
Power rate hikes have been reported not only in the Visayas but also in other regions.
In the Visayas, the average power rate for residential consumers is P15 per kilowatt-hour (kWh).
There has been an increase of around P5 per kWh since February this year due to the continuing oil price hikes and the weakening of the peso against the dollar.
This southern city’s sole power distributor, MORE Electric and Power Corporation (MORE Power), which had the lowest power rate in the country in previous months, was not spared from this. It recently announced an increase in its power rate by P3.34 more per kWh this September.
From P9.14 per kWh in the previous month, the rate for September billing would already be P12.48 per kWh.
Despite this, MORE Power still has one of the lowest power rates in the Visayas, if not the entire country, according to the most recent available and published rates of private distribution utilities and electric cooperatives in the Visayas (from highest to lowest):
* NORECO 1 in Negros Oriental – P 18.11
* NORECO 2 in Negros Oriental – P17.84
* BOHECO in Bohol – P17.2086
* LEYECO V in Ormoc City – P17.03
* ANTECO in Antique – P16.19
* CENECO in Bacolod City – P15.39
* VECO in Cebu City – P15.37
* AKELCO in Aklan – P15.11
* NOCECO in Negros Occidental – P14.97
* ILECO 2 in Iloilo – P14.90
* ILECO 3 in Iloilo – P14.61
* CAPELCO in Capiz – P14.60
* ILECO 1 in Iloilo – P13.46
* MORE in Iloilo City – P12.48
* GUIMELCO in Guimaras – P12.17.
The increase in power rates is mainly due to the high coal prices in the global market coupled with the weakening of the peso against the dollar.
In the last quarter of 2021, the price of coal was an average of 60 US dollars per metric ton. But at the onset of 2022, the price started to surge; it is now at US$404 per metric ton—five times higher or 575 percent up.
The triggers are the halt in coal exportation from other countries and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which is one of the world’s largest suppliers of coal./PN
