Consumers brace for hike; Veco says ‘don’t blame us’

Power  consumers in Metro Cebu are preparing for the impact of the P1.00 per kilowatt hour increase this month.

“Instead of using an electric   rice cooker, we will just use charcoal to cook and cut down on watching TV,” said  Dario Beceril of barangay Tipolo, Mandaue City.

The Visayan Electric Company (Veco) said the increase to be reflected in June billings was due to a higher generation charge passed on by the National Power Corp. and other power suppliers.

Aron Rempohito of barangay Urgelio, Cebu City, said he   plans to cut down on using the air conditioner at home and rely on an electric fan instead.

Businesswoman Natalie Lim Choi said her bakery and dormitory businesses in barangays Kalubihan, Colon and Carbon would  surely be affected by the power hike.

“This only increase our expenses. I  wonder  why there is an increase when the prices of petroleum have gone down,” Choi said.

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan  chairman for Central Visayas Jaime Paglinawan questioned the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for approving the increase.

“Why does the ERC always approve questionable increases of Veco?” he asked.

“They have not even explained yet how they spent proceeds of the increase under the Performance Based Regulations (PBR) and now  they are  levying another increase?”

don’t blame us

Ethel Natera, Veco communications manager, said the increase  was not initiated by Veco but a  pass on charge to consumers due to a increase in generation charge by  Napocor and independent power producers (IPP) through the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market or WESM.

Under the Energy and Power Industry Reform Act or Epira, the power sector has been unbundled into three main sub-sectors.

Power generation is  handled by  Napocor and the IPPs.

All power generators in Luzon and the Visayas participate in the WESM, which competitively sets the generation price.

Transmission is  privatized and handled by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), which channels  power through high voltage tranmission lines  to distribution utility companies like Veco and  electric cooperatives that service  households, commercial establishments and industrial customers.

“This is a generation rate increase. It is not an increase in the distribution charge of Veco. There is no change in the distribution charge,” said Taneo.

“Veco  does not generate power.  We only distribute power to individual consumers,” Natera said. /Careen L. Malahay, Correspondent