Electricity consumers in northern and southern Negros Occidental are paying higher residential rates for September, while customers of Negros Power in Bacolod and parts of central Negros saw a slight decrease, based on advisories issued by the province’s three distribution utilities.
The Northern Negros Electric Cooperative recorded the highest September residential rate at P17.1454 per kilowatt-hour, up by P1.4054/kWh from P15.7400 in August.
The Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative increased its residential rate to P16.0080/kWh, or P0.7744/kWh higher than its August rate of P15.2336.
Negros Electric and Power Corp., or Negros Power, meanwhile, posted a slight reduction to P14.2487/kWh from P14.2787 in August, a decrease of P0.0300/kWh.
The varying movements came as distribution utilities in the Visayas dealt with higher Wholesale Electricity Spot Market costs following tight power supply conditions, generating plant outages and transmission constraints in August.
The Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines reported that the average WESM price in the Visayas surged to P18.59/kWh during the August billing period from P11.29/kWh in July.
IEMOP said average available supply in the Visayas declined to 2,201 megawatts while demand reached 2,094 MW, narrowing the regional supply margin to only 62 MW.
Forced outages and constraints on the Luzon-Visayas interconnection also limited access to cheaper electricity from Luzon and increased reliance on more expensive generation in the Visayas.
The grid recorded 86 hours of yellow alerts and 53 hours of red alerts during the period.
NONECO RATE CLIMBS BY P1.41/KWH
NONECO attributed most of its September increase to the generation charge, which rose from P8.8000/kWh to P9.8955/kWh, an increase of P1.0955.
Its system loss charge also increased by P0.1880/kWh, from P1.5509 to P1.7389, while government-related charges climbed from P2.3749 to P2.5113.
The cooperative’s distribution charge remained at P1.6109/kWh.
NONECO said the higher generation cost reflected increased WESM prices as well as the continuing recovery of deferred WESM obligations from previous billing months.
The September rate includes the third 25-percent installment of deferred June WESM charges and the second 21.25-percent installment of its July WESM bill.
NONECO also began collecting 25 percent of its high August WESM bill in September.
Instead of recovering the entire August amount in one billing period, the cooperative said the remaining 75 percent would be spread across October, November and December to reduce the immediate impact on consumers.
NONECO stressed that only P1.6109/kWh, or about 9.4 percent of its September residential rate, represents its Distribution, Supply and Metering charge.
It said this component has remained unchanged since February 2010, while much of the total electricity rate consists of pass-through charges collected for power suppliers and other entities.
NONECO serves the cities of Victorias, Cadiz, Sagay, Escalante and San Carlos and the municipalities of E.B. Magalona, Manapla, Toboso and Calatrava.
NOCECO RATE REACHES P16.0080/KWH
NOCECO also cited higher generation costs as the primary reason for its September increase.
Its generation charge rose by P0.5197/kWh, from P8.4420 in August to P8.9617 in September.
NOCECO said the implemented WESM price affecting its power purchases increased from P12.8130/kWh to P15.3496/kWh.
The system loss charge increased by P0.0726/kWh, while ancillary service charges rose by P0.0363. Value-added tax on generation also increased by P0.1784/kWh.
The cooperative’s Distribution, Supply and Metering charge remained unchanged at P1.6109/kWh.
NOCECO said it implemented only about 25 percent of the preliminary WESM charges reflected in its August IEMOP billing while continuing staggered payments of previously approved market balances.
The cooperative said it was awaiting IEMOP’s final adjusted August bill following regulatory intervention on high Visayas and Mindanao spot market prices.
The Energy Regulatory Commission ordered the regional application of the Secondary Price Cap retroactive to the August 2026 supply month and directed distribution utilities to await IEMOP’s final billing adjustments.
NOCECO said any savings arising from the final adjustment would be reflected in succeeding electricity bills.
Its service area covers La Carlota, Himamaylan, Kabankalan and Sipalay cities and the municipalities of Pulupandan, Valladolid, San Enrique, Pontevedra, Hinigaran, La Castellana, Moises Padilla, Binalbagan, Isabela, Ilog, Cauayan, Candoni and Hinoba-an.
NEGROS POWER RATE DOWN BY 3 CENTAVOS
Negros Power, in contrast, reported a P0.0300/kWh decrease in its average residential electricity rate despite higher WESM prices.
Its September generation charge decreased by P0.0613/kWh, from P8.4830 to P8.4217, while its system loss charge fell by P0.0072 and government taxes and other charges declined by P0.0131.
Transmission-related charges, however, increased by P0.0516/kWh.
Negros Power said the WESM rate applicable to its purchases had increased, but the impact on consumers was moderated by the ERC’s Secondary Price Cap and a staggered payment arrangement.
The company said part of the higher WESM cost would be recovered over succeeding months instead of being passed on to consumers in full during September.
Its Distribution, Supply and Metering charge remained unchanged at P1.3702/kWh.
Negros Power serves Bacolod, Bago, Talisay and Silay cities and the municipalities of Murcia and Don Salvador Benedicto under its congressional franchise.
NONECO and NOCECO have urged consumers to monitor their kilowatt-hour consumption and practice energy conservation as higher generation and other pass-through costs continue to affect electricity bills.*
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