There will be another increase in electricity rates for July, but Negros Electric and Power Corp. aims to cushion its impact on consumers by spreading its payment over a six-month period.
The expected hike this month is P1.70 per kWh but with the permission of the Energy Regulatory Commission to spread payment over six months, they will be able to charge an increase of only 20 centavos in July, Neil Parcon, vice president for Corporate Energy Sourcing and Regulatory Affairs of Primelectric Holdings Inc., said.
So, from a residential rate of P13.84/kWh in June, the amount will increase to P14.04, he said at the Visayas Power Forum on grid reliability and the electricity price outlook held at the SMX Convention Center in Bacolod City on Monday, July 13.
He explained that the price of electricity in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) has increased from P10 to P18.
The P1.70 increase is the blended generation cost of Negros Power for July, Parcon said.
There was a P2.46/kWh increase in the June electric bill, so another P1.70 hike in July would be hard on consumers, he said.
That is why they asked the ERC for permission to allow them to stagger the payment, he added.
Parcon said that after July, they expect the price of electricity to decrease because the Panay Energy Development Corporation Unit 3, one of the three power generators that was previously on outage, has resumed operations.
They also expect WESM prices to decrease, but not to the levels prior to the surge in the last two months, Parcon said.
The Visayas power sector has been facing one of its most challenging periods in recent years, he said.
Prolonged outages of major power plants, transmission limitations, and constrained reserve capacity have resulted in recurring Yellow and Red Alerts across the Visayas Grid, Parcon said.
These conditions significantly increased WESM prices, leading to higher generation charges that ultimately affected electricity consumers throughout the region, he said.
Recognizing that these challenges extend beyond individual distribution utilities, Primelectric Holdings, Inc., together with MORE Power, Negros Power, and Bohol Light Company, convened the Visayas Power Forum on Monday, he said.
It was convened to provide a common platform where government agencies, regulators, market operators, businesses, media, and industry stakeholders could discuss the current power situation, understand the drivers of electricity prices, and explore collaborative solutions for improving grid reliability, Parcon said.
The recent increase in electricity rates is primarily driven by developments in the generation sector rather than distribution utilities, he said.
Parcon said during the June 2026 billing period:
• Average generation rates among Visayas distribution utilities increased by approximately 40 percent;
• WESM prices surged by 86 percent compared with previous months; and
• Major generating unit outages and limited transmission capacity significantly reduced available supply, pushing electricity market prices up.
He said preliminary market conditions indicate that electricity prices may remain elevated during the July 2026 billing period if generation outages persist.*
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