|
21 July 2004 - Cebuanos are bracing for higher electricity bills, with four pending petitions by separate power utilities to increase power rates.
Consumers in Metro Cebu will be affected by the pending petition lodged before the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to review the existing power purchase agreement (PPA) between the Visayan Electric Co. (Veco) and private supplier Toledo Power Corp. (TPC).
Veco is Metro Cebu's lone power utility, serving the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu and Talisay and the municipalities up to Liloan in the north and Carcar in the south.
On the other hand, consumers outside Metro Cebu who are non-Veco consumers will be affected by another pending petition by the Cebu Electric Cooperative (Cebeco), which wants to increase rates so it could recover taxes charged by local governments.
The National Power Corp. (NPC) is also asking for a PHP1.87 per kWh increase.
Last June 24, the ERC gave a provisional approval to Veco's deal with another supplier, the Cebu Private Power Corp. (CPPC), for an increase in rates.
This time, Veco filed a petition in behalf of Toledo Power and asked the ERC that their PPA be adjusted.
Toledo Power, CPPC and NPC supply roughly about 250 MW of Veco's 260 MW daily power requirement. Cause-oriented group Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) warned the public that the increases in the purchase agreements of Veco would be passed on to consumers.
As for Cebeco, FDC-Cebu Secretary General Lito Vasquez said they would look at the taxes the cooperative would pass on to consumers.
On July 23, ERC board members will listen to the concerns of different sectors on the Veco-TPC and Veco-CPPC deal.
On July 28, the NPC petition to increase generation charges will be heard. The CPPC, when it threatened to close down last year because of losses, sold power to Veco at PHP2.02 per kWh.
Under the new agreement, CPPC charges Veco PHP2.0633 per kWh as generation charge, plus other charges of PHP.1226 per kWh, for a total of PHP2.185 per kWh.
On top of that, the CPPC will charge Veco a capacity rate of PHP347 ($6.20) per kWh and a variable capacity rate of PHP541 per kWh per month, to be spread accordingly to all consumers Veco serves from Carcar in the south to Liloan in the north.
CPPC's price was supposed to be at two percent lower than NPC rates, but in June 2003, the firm threatened to shut down its 75 MW Ermita plant after claiming losses.
It then asked Veco for a negotiation of their contract for a P0.30 increase per kWh, which Veco, at that time, refused to do. The main idea of the petition is to sell electricity to consumers more expensively during peak hours at around 5pm to 9pm when the demand for power is very high and the supply often runs short.
| 
Articles 
| View all PennWell sites | View all PennWell events
Add RSS Feed
