Consumers in southern Negros Occidental should brace for a huge increase in their electricity bills this month.
The Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative announced a P3.33 per kilowatt-hour increase in electricity rates for May, from P14.6309/kWh in April to P17.609/kWh this month.
The higher electricity rates has been caused by the increase of the cost of electricity at the spot market, NOCECO said in press release.
The spot market rate rose by 55 percent from P10.3620/kWh last month to P16.0644/kWh this month.
NOCECO also said that despite their contract with GNPOWER offering a slight decrease in their purchase power cost, their generation charge still increased by P2.7520/kWh.
To address the concern, NOCECO said that they already have a new contract with KEPCO Salcon Power Corporation (KSPC) which aims to reduce the electric cooperative’s exposure to volatile spot markets.
With the recent high temperatures, NOCECO anticipated an increase in electricity consumption for cooling purposes.
“This surge in demand, coupled with unscheduled power plant outages, can further drive up spot market prices based on basic economic principles of supply and demand,” their press release said.
They also assured that they are looking for solutions that will mitigate the impact of rising electricity prices.
Central Negros Electric Cooperative and the Northern Negros Electric Cooperative have yet to announce their electricity rates for May.*