MORE Electric and Power Corporation
(MORE Power) has announcd that a more affordable power rate will be taking effect
in their first bill to Iloilo City electric consumers.
According to Roel Z. Castro, president and chief operating officer of MORE, “We
are very happy to inform the Ilonggos that our computations resulted to an
effective rate of P9.61/kWh for residential consumers. This will be the rate
reflected on their first bill starting Apr. 20, 2020.”
Castro added that for commercial and industrial type customers, effective rates
will depend on their respective load consumption but assured that rates will be
lower.
MORE’s initial residential rate is 74 centavos less than previous Distribution
Utility (DU) Panay Electric Company’s (PECO) residential rate of P10.35/kWh
back in February earlier in the year.
“Our strategy was to source out a portion of Iloilo City’s electric supply from
cost effective power suppliers in order to bring down the effective rate for
all our customers,” Castro expounded.
According to Castro, MORE is sourcing out 30 percent of Iloilo City’s power
supply from KEPCO SPC Power Corporation (KSPC) in Cebu, Aboitiz Power
Renewables, Inc. (APRI) in Luzon, and the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market
(WESM) where electric supply prices are lower. The remaining 70 percent of the
City’s supply is sourced out from Panay Energy Development Corporation (PEDC)
and Panay Power Corporation (PPC), both located in Iloilo City.
“MORE was able to receive the billing from our power suppliers on April 15
wherein the covered period started in February 29,” Castro added.
Castro went on further that MORE’s receipt of the power supply billing from
PEDC and PPC disqualifies PECO from billing consumers from February 29 and
onwards.
“It is important that our consumers should be guided that PECO has no basis to
charge them from Feb. 29, 2020 and beyond. Consumers who receive PECO bills
overlapping the said date should report to us immediately,” said Castro.
Charges from power generating companies and the WESM form part of the
generation charge as shown on each consumer’s electric bill. Generation charge
is a pass-on charge remitted to power suppliers and, on average, take up 60
percent of a consumer’s total electric bill.
“Distribution utilities that strategize on how to source out electric supply
from cost effective power suppliers are responsible DUs that understand their
commitment to the consumers. Truly enough, MORE assures the Ilonggos that we
will continue to do so in the next 25 years,” Castro added.
MORE also informs the public that consumers will receive their first MORE Power
bill today, Apr. 20, 2020 which will cover their consumption from Feb 29, 2020.
Due to recent restrictions by the City Government’s orders on weekend lockdown,
consumers will receive their first bill two days later contrary to MORE’s
previous announcement of Apr. 18, 2020.
MORE also announced that due to the COVID-19 crisis, they will give a 40-day
grace period for their consumers to pay their first bill./PN
