Visayan Electric rates up by 13 centavos

MANILA, Philippines — Visayan Electric Company consumers should expect a 13-centavo increase in their September to October electricity bill.

The power company said the average rate is now at P15.37 per kilowatt-hour from an average of P15.24 per kWh for the August to September billing period.

“The new rate translated to a P26-increase for customers with an average monthly consumption of 200 per kWh,” the power company said in a statement issued yesterday.

The country’s second largest power distributor explained that rising prices of coal in the world market meant higher electricity rates.

“This was aggravated by an adjustment in the government subsidy for missionary electrification and taxes for power purchases after the expiration of the contract with the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM),” it said.

The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), in a resolution dated Aug. 4, approved the request of the National Power Corp. to recover the shortfall from the Universal Charge-Missionary Electrification (UC-ME)  subsidy for 2012 amounting to P2,606,208,364.83.

The ERC resolution directed distribution utilities to collect P0.0239 per kWh on top of the UC-ME basic rate of P0.1561per kWh for 12 months starting this month.

The increase in power rates was also driven by taxes incurred for the purchase of power from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) and other contracted suppliers after Visayan Electric’s contract with PSALM ended last July.

“This led the power distribution firm to purchase additional power from WESM and other contracted suppliers to augment the power needs previously supplied by PSALM,” the power company said.

To help its customers cope with high power rates, Visayan Electric is offering payment arrangements for customers with good standing.

Customers may apply for payment arrangements at any of Visayan Electric’s service centers.