P5 power rate hike enrages consumers

DAGUPAN CITY—Consumers of Pangasinan Electric Cooperative III (Panelco III) are up in arms against the power rate increase that the cooperative implemented this month.

Elenita Bautista, manager of Panelco III’s institutional services department, announced last week that the electric cooperative was increasing its rate by P5.6 per kwh. Panelco III serves 18 towns and Urdaneta City in eastern Pangasinan.

In a December 19 letter to the Panelco III board, former Pangasinan State University professor Eusebio Miclat Jr. complained on behalf of consumers that the power rate increase was implemented without any consideration of its paying members and consumers.

“This is to submit to your good office our protest and objection in strongest possible terms Panelco’s billing for December 2013 which unilaterally implemented … its increase,” Miclat said in his letter.

“[The increase] pales in comparison with that of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), which sought the wisdom of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for staggered implementation of its P3.44 per kWh rate increase.”

The ERC has approved a staggered billing schedule for Meralco by implementing a P2 per kWh increase in December, P1 per kWh in February and 44 centavos per kWh increase in March.

Bautista had been prepared for the backlash, announcing last week that an increase in the cost of generating electricity was the reason for the power rate hike.

“Whatever was billed to us from October 26 to November 25 was added to the consumers’ bills this December,” she said.

The increase has been included in Panelco III customers’ December bills, raising the cooperative’s P9.8 per kwh charge to P15.4.

Miclat said the Panelco III board of directors presented themselves as “extremely callous and insensitive, onerously thinking of themselves alone, without regard for hard-up member-consumers.”

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Panelco III’s rate increase was the highest so far in Pangasinan, which is also served by Dagupan Electric Corp., Central Pangasinan Electric Cooperative (Cenpelco) and Pangasinan Electric Cooperative I (Panelco I).

Miclat asked Panelco III to immediately recall its billing charge for December.

“They should also adopt a staggered billing schedule similar to Meralco and duly approved by the regional ERC,” he said.

The Supreme Court has issued a temporary restraining order against the Meralco rate increase which opponents of the rate hike said was an initial victory for them.

Power rates are increasing almost everywhere but in some areas, electricity-generating firms are advising consumers to heed cost-saving tips to reduce expenses.

In Davao City, the Aboitiz-owned Davao Light and Power Co (DLPC) said consumers could reduce their power bills by resorting to cost-saving measures.

One of these, according to Ross Luga, DLPC communications officer, is the use of light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs, which are more expensive but consume less power. With a report by Allan Nawal, Inquirer Mindanao