Plan to hike Negros power rates opposed

BACOLOD CITY—Power cooperatives and other sectors are opposing a plan of Kepco SPC Power Corp. (KSPC) to increase electricity rates by 44 centavos per kilowatt hour (kWh) in Negros, saying this would even result in higher prices for consumers.

Arnel Lapore, president of the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco), said the new KSPC rates would mean an increase of 35 centavos per kWh for consumers of Ceneco, 25 centavos for those of the Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative, and 20 centavos for those of Negros Oriental Electric Cooperative I.

“This will be a double whammy to us, not counting its effects on food prices,” said Frank Carbon, president of the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “Retailers are also opposing KSPC’s move as this will push prices up beyond the reach of the common tao.”

The VMC Rural Electric Service Cooperative is also against the move of KSPC, a Cebu-based power generating facility, Lapore said.

Leaders of the cooperatives on Negros Island met on Sunday to firm up their opposition to the price adjustment.

KSPC vice president Moon Jong Woo informed Lapore and officials of other cooperatives about the company’s plan in a letter sent recently. He cited its “fuel supply predicament brought about by the new coal reference price ceiling” imposed by the Indonesian government agency in October last year.

“The average increase in our KSPC price will be about P0.44 kWh, which will be cheaper than the tariff of other available coal-fired power plants by P0.40 kWh to P0.90 kWh,” Moon said.

While the power sales contract between KSPC and the cooperatives allows the company to automatically adjust rates, Moon explained that the change in the base reference call price would need the consent of its customers and the approval of the Energy Regulatory Commission. For Ceneco, the current base rate for KSPC power is P4.25 per kWh with a landed cost of P5.70, according to Lapore.

Moon asked the cooperatives’ board of directors to approve the planned increase and for them to issue resolutions on the matter.

“We are appealing to the Ceneco board not to approve KSPC’s request,” Carbon said. KSPC’s increase of 25 centavos plus 44 centavos would push up Ceneco rates to about P10 per kWh and trigger an increase in water rates, he said.

He said his group, along with the Bacolod Filipino Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Chamber of Real Estate and Builders’ Association, the Amity Club, the Northern Negros Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Southern Negros Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Catholic Church in Negros Occidental, is against the KSPC proposal. Carla Gomez, Inquirer Visayas