The Negros Electric and Power Corp. (Negros Power) said on Thursday that some adjustments reduced the average residential electricity rate for September here amid the increase in the cost of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).
In an advisory, it announced that the rate for September 2026 is set at PHP14.24 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), down PHP0.03 per kWh from the August rate of PHP14.27 per kWh.
The power rate covers consumers in the highly urbanized Bacolod City as well as the neighboring cities of Talisay, Silay, Bago and municipalities of Murcia and Don Salvador Benedicto in Negros Occidental.
“While the cost of electricity from the WESM increased, the application of the secondary price cap (SPC) and its staggered payment scheme helped reduce the immediate impact on consumers,” Negros Power said.
For September, the WESM rate increased to PHP9.88 per kWh, from the previous month’s PHP8.42 per kWh.
“This is mainly due to higher electricity demand and the temporary unavailability of several power plants. This contributed to yellow and red alerts in the Luzon and Visayas grids,” it added.
Negros Power said the implemented adjustments brought down the generation charge by PHP0.0613 per kWh.
The Energy Regulatory Commission applied the SPC in the Visayas and Mindanao, retroactively covering the August 2026 billing period.
By itself, Negros Power implemented a staggered payment scheme by spreading the recovery of a portion of the higher WESM costs over the next five months, instead of collecting the full increase at once.
Meanwhile, transmission charges also increased by PHP0.05 per kWh, which is mainly attributed to slight increases in transmission and ancillary services for the reserve market.
“Despite higher WESM prices and a slight increase in transmission charges, adjustments helped moderate the impact on consumers,” Negros Power said.*PNA
[sibwp_form id=1]