INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MABALACAT CITY, Pampanga — Residents of this city and six towns in Pampanga province will pay 89 centavos more per kilowatt-hour (kWh) on their electricity bills by October after the electric cooperative servicing their areas announced another round of power rate hikes.
Pampanga Electric Cooperative II (Pelco II) said the P13.081 per kwh power rate in August had increased to P13.975 per kWh this month.
Electric consumption in the current month is payable the following month.
The cooperative services this city, the towns of Bacolor, Guagua, Lubao, Floridablanca, Porac, and Sta. Rita, and parts of Magalang.
The residents’ September bills went up by about 20 centavos per kWh due to the power rate adjustment in August.
Pelco II’s power rate was only P8.03 per kwh in September last year and climbed to P8.95 per kWh in January this year. The rate increases every month.
The power firm said the prices of electricity change every month depending on its rate in the market. It said generation charge accounts for 60 percent of the monthly electricity bill, taxes (20 percent), distribution charge (12 percent), and transmission charge (12 percent).
Electric companies and cooperatives have cited the rising prices of coal and crude oil and the weakening of the Philippine peso against the US dollar as the main reasons for the rate adjustments.
Residents affected by the constant power rate hike have been asking for a reprieve, citing its effects on daily life.
“Everything goes up. The prices of meat, fish, rice, pandesal (bread), and groceries are rising. Now the price of electricity has increased again. How can ordinary people like us survive?” Lola Glo of Dau village here, said in the vernacular.
An officer of the water district in this city told the Inquirer that her latest electric bill was about P10,000.
“The whole day, my husband and I are not home because of work. Only our children stay home, and our (current) electric bill is about P10,000. Next month we have to pay more because of another (rate) increase,” she said. INQ
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