No power rate hike yet

CEBU, Philippines - The National Power Corporation’s power rate hike will not reflect on the monthly bills that will be received by consumers of the Visayan Electric Company Inc.VECO spokesperson Ethel Natera told The Freeman yesterday that their latest bill from the Napocor does not carry the rate adjustment yet.

Natera said the final implementation date will depend on when Napocor will start implementing the new rate.

To recall, the Energy Regulatory Board on March 26, 2012 resolved to allow Napocor and the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. to recover under the Generation Rate Adjustment Mechanism (GRAM) and Incremental Currency Exchange Rate Adjustment (ICERA) their incremental fuel and purchased power costs, and foreign exchange costs, incurred during the period from January 2007 up to April 2010.

The ERC approved a 0.6060/kwh increase in power rates as petitioned by Napocor and PSALM.

Natera earlier said that Napocor’s increase will be passed on to VECO but the amount would be definitely less than what was approved by the ERC.

Natera said they only source about 30 percent of VECO's power needs from Napocor while the rest is sourced from the Cebu Energy Development Corporation, Green Core Geothermal Inc. and the Cebu Private Power Corporation.

VECO, is the second largest electric utility in the Philippines and serves the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Talisay and Naga and four municipalities of the greater part of Metro Cebu - Liloan, Consolacion, Minglanilla and San Fernando. Its franchise service covers an area of about 674 square kilometers with an estimated population of 1.73 million.

Aside from Visayas, Luzon and Mindanao will also increase their power rates by 0.6904/kwh and 0.0442/kwh, respectively.

According to ERC, the GRAM and ICERA rate adjustments will be effective March 26 to April 25, 2012 billing period and valid until the Deferred Accounting Adjustment (DAA) amounts approved by the ERC will be fully recovered.

The ERC said that these fuel, purchased power, and foreign currency costs are legitimate costs already incurred by Napocor and PSALM in their supply of power to their various customers. — Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/MIT (THE FREEMAN)