BACOLOD City – The Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) said it will implement a P0.1717 power rate increase this January.
Roel Venus, head of Ceneco’s Member-Consumer Integrated Services Division, said the upward adjustment is due to the increase in real property taxes, generation and transmission fees, and system loss charges.
The monthly power rate is now at P11.3527 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) from the previous P11.1810 per kWh.
Ceneco general manager Sulpicio Lagarde once again reminded member-consumers to save electricity.
He added that member-consumers must also pay their bills on time to avoid disconnection.
Ceneco supplies power to the cities of Silay, Talisay, Bacolod, and Bago and municipalities of Murcia and Salvador Benedicto.
Just last month, Ceneco and two other electric cooperatives in Negros Occidental reduced power rates.
Ceneco, which covers Bacolod City and its neighboring cities of Bago, Talisay and Silay and the municipalities of Murcia and Don Salvador Benedicto, first announced a decrease of P0.69 per kilowatt hour (kWh) from P11.87/kWh in November to P11.18/kWh in December 2018.
Ceneco general manager Sulpicio Lagarde Jr. said they did not purchase the peak volume of power for the period amid cold weather. He also noted the reduction of the prices in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).
Meanwhile, the Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative (Noceco), which serves consumers in southern Negros, posted a rate reduction of almost P0.78/kWh in December.
In an advisory, Noceco general manager Jonas Discaya said the main driver for the lower rate for December was the P0.6065/kWh decrease in the generation charge.
In November, generation charge was P5.6424/kWh, but dropped to P5.0359/kWh this month.
Discaya attributed the reduced rate to the lower charge of WESM from which Noceco obtained a portion of its power supply.
The Northern Negros Electric Cooperative also slashed its December 2018 rate. In November, its power rate was P11.56/kWh./PN
