BACOLOD City – Want to avoid paying high electricity bills?
Conserve energy, said Jose Taniongon, officer-in-charge of the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco).
He reminded consumers to be conscientious electricity users following the increase in Ceneco rate beginning this month – by P1.0659 per kilowatt hour (kWh).
Taniongon said, “The rate for the billing month of December 2019 is P10.4678/kWh, an increase of P1.0659/kWh from last month’s rate of P9.4019/kWh.”
He attributed the increase to the hike in generation, transmission and system loss charges, subsidies, and value added tax.
In a related development, Ceneco held a press conference on Wednesday with Wennie Sancho, secretary general of Power Watch-Negros (Power Watch) in relation to Sancho’s letter to Ceneco board of directors dated Dec. 9 seeking clarification on the alleged “power overcontracting” by Ceneco with some power generators.
Part of Sancho’s letter stated that from July 29, 2011 to Nov. 25, 2013 Ceneco contracted 59,710,493 kWh of power equivalent to about P232 million in excess of its actual requirement.
It added that for the interim period of 18 months, from Dec. 26, 2014 to June 25, 2016, out of 262,800,000 kWh contracted energy, only 139,284,000 kWh or 53 percent was utilized by the cooperative.
Hence, according to Sancho, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) opined that Kepco Salcon Power Corp. (KSPC) must be compensated by allowing the recovery of P232-million cost to maintain its financial viability.
He further stated that the adverse financial effect of overcontracted power deals passed on to consumers reached to P547 million.
Norman Pollentes, department manager of Ceneco Corporate Planning, clarified that all power contracts of Ceneco could not be implemented without the approval of the ERC.
He added that when the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 was implemented in 2010, Ceneco’s method of procurement was made through power supply negotiation and through solicitation of competitive offers from different generators. Today, the process is competitive selection process, he stressed.
“The ERC has the final say if there is overcontracting or not,” stressed Pollentes./PN