ALL-WEATHER JOB Linemen of the Benguet Electric Cooperative (Beneco) work through heavy rain to repair a power line and restore the supply of electricity in a section of Baguio City. Local
officials invited the Beneco general manager to the city council session this week to explain the increase in power rates. —NEIL CLARK ONGCHANGCO
Households and businesses in Benguet province, including Baguio City, and the Western Visayas region are paying more for their power consumption in recent months, prompting local government officials and the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to intervene to give consumers a break.
The power utility serving Baguio and Benguet province is renegotiating its supply contract after spiraling coal prices led to a sharp increase in electric bills in August, an official said.
The Benguet Electric Cooperative (Beneco) buys electricity from independent power producer Team Energy, which raised the cost of power generation this year when world coal prices hovered between $149 (P7,470) and $173 (P8,6730) per metric ton, said Melchor Licoben, Beneco general manager, during the Baguio City council session this week.
Before the pandemic struck, coal prices averaged $66 (P3,308) per MT, he said. But prices dropped lower than $66 when economies closed at the start of the global COVID-19 outbreak and recently shot up as world economies rebound from the 2020 recession, Licoben said.
Around 60 percent of fees paid by consumers are “pass-thru” generation charges, referring to the cost of producing electricity that is shouldered by consumers.
Citing fluctuating coal prices, Licoben said Beneco expected steep generation costs to last until the first quarter of 2022, which was why it began to seek new terms with the supplier. Team Energy’s contract with Beneco will expire in 2024.
The council invited Licoben to the session to explain why Baguio consumers paid P9.4 per kilowatt hour, or a P940 fee for consuming 100 kWh, in current bills. They were charged P8.6 per kWh in July and P8.5 per kWh in June, due to an average of 22 centavos monthly increase starting in February.
Damaged cable
In the Visayas, the ERC, in an order on Sept. 20, ordered the Philippine Electric Market Corp. (PEMC) to stop the collection of congestion and other charges related to power outage due to a damaged submarine cable until the transmission line is restored.
In a letter to PEMC president Leonido Pulido III, ERC Chair Agnes Devanadera also directed the firm to refund consumers the congestion and other related charges collected from June to August.
The PEMC governs the wholesale electricity spot market where electric supply is traded by buyers and sellers.
The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP), in an earlier statement, said that a 138-kilovolt high voltage submarine cable was damaged on June 15 due to dredging and rechanneling work being undertaken by the Department of Public Works and Highways along Bio-os River in Amlan, Negros Oriental province.
The cable interconnects Negros and Cebu islands with a total capacity of 180 megawatts.
Devanadera said completion of repairs could last until October 2023, citing an NGCP report.
“…The [damage on the submarine cable] was not caused by consumers, but rather by negligence, which responsible parties should be made to account for…,” she said.