Increase in power rate jolts Albay folk

LEGAZPI CITY—Thousands of consumers in Albay are protesting a 34-percent increase in their electric bills last month, which caught businessmen and households by surprise.

The Albay Electric Cooperative (Aleco), the lone supplier of electricity in the province, charged more than 200,000 consumers P10.23 per kilowatt hour in June, which is P2.57 higher than the P7.66 per kWh that Aleco collected in May.

Marcial Tuanqui, former president of the Albay Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Acci), said the rate increase caught the business sector by surprise and hurt small and medium enterprises that weren’t ready for the increase in power rates.

Tuanqui said although the rate increase may be temporary, “still a 22- to 30-percent increase in our power bills would be a big blow to our overhead expenses.”

Hotels, retail stores, hospitals, restaurants and grocery stores were reeling from the sudden power rate increase.

Big malls and factories were spared since their power supply comes directly from the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines.

Aleco was quick to lay the blame on the wholesale electricity spot market (WESM), where local electric cooperatives get their supply of electricity.

WESM, operated by the Philippine Electricity Market Corp., has billed Aleco for June at least P121 million based on rates of P6.11 per kWh. Aleco passed this on to consumers.

Paul Lopez, National Electrification Administration officer and Aleco acting general manager, said the cooperative rate depends on how much WESM charges.

He said at one point, rates charged by WESM shot up to P88 per kWh. “We are compelled to adjust our power rate depending on the prices dictated by WESM,” Lopez said.