Electricity rates go up in Aklan, Boracay

ILOILO CITY—Electricity rates in Aklan, including the country’s top tourist destination Boracay Island, will increase by 82 centavos per kilowatt-hour, starting this month, in order to reflect the “true cost” of power generation and distribution, according to the Aklan Electric Cooperative (Akelco).

The increase will be seen on the July billing of consumers, according to Lorenzo Laserna, management consultant of Akelco.

It came on the heels of a May 17 resolution by the Energy Regulatory Commission, giving provisional approval to a power supply agreement between the cooperative and Green Core Geothermal Inc. (GCGI), which operates the Panlinpinon geothermal plants in Negros Oriental.

The cooperative is the lone power distributor of Aklan’s 17 towns, including Malay where Boracay is found, and the towns of Pandan and Libertad in Antique. It has around 100,000 consumers.

GCGI is a subsidiary of First Luzon Geothermal Energy Corp., which is owned by the Lopez Group’s Energy Development Corp.

It supplies 44 percent of the 18.3-megawatt monthly power requirement of Akelco. Forty-one percent comes from the coal plant of Panay Energy Development Corp. and the rest is supplied by diesel plants and the spot market.

Laserna said residential consumers would pay 11.26 per kWh from 10.44, while commercial consumers would be charged 9.85 per kWh from 9.02.