Manila Times.net
PANAY Electric Co. (PECO), whose customers in Iloilo City are paying the highest electricity rates in the country, is seeking an increase in its distribution tariff before regulators.
In its petition, the private power utility is seeking approval from the Energy Regulatory Commission to increase its distribution charge for its five-year regulatory period from October 2011 to 2015 in compliance with the regulatory body’s performance based regulation (PBR).
The PBR is a price setting scheme whereby their rates are adjusted yearly based on spending requirements, inflation and the quality of service, among others.
PECO’s application, if approved, will drive its distribution charge higher from its current level of P0.87 a kilowatt-hour to P1.20 a kilowatt-hour, or P0.33 a kilowatt-hour at the minimum.
The additional charge sought by PECO will be used by the utility to construct a new office building amounting to P110 million in its old General Luna Plant and a new power sub-station amounting to P170 million in its property along Diversion road in Iloilo City.
PECO will also buy new vehicles for their executive officers; new office facilities and equipment like computers, chairs, and tables; concrete poles and distribution transformers, and will hire new office personnel.
Various consumer groups, however, called on the ERC to reject PECO’s rate hike petition as the latter will not provide new financial investment from its profits to cover the cost of its development plan.
“What performance incentive PECO is applying for when it has the worst quality of service and known for its anti-consumer track-record. What the consumers are demanding is immediate reduction of rates in the midst of PECO’s everyday brownouts and exorbitant rates which is considered the highest in the world,” Aldwin Ong, Freedom from Debt Coalition-Iloilo chairman, said in a statement.
PECO distributes electricity to 44,000 consumers in Iloilo City. Lopez-controlled First Philippine Holdings Corp. owns a 30-percent stake in the company while the rest of its shareholdings are controlled by private stakeholders.
Inclusive of generation, transmission, tax and subsidy charges, FDC earlier said that consumers in Iloilo City located in Region VI—Western Visayas, in the Central Philippines, is charged with the most expensive electricity rates, not only in the country, but also in the whole world.
A study conducted by the group found that for the month of August 2010 alone, a household consumer in PECO’s franchise with a total electricity consumption of 195-kilowatt-hour coughs out P2,525.95 for monthly bill at the per kilowatt-hour rate of P12.95.Compared to the same category of consumers located in other key cities in the Philippines like Leyte, Cebu, Bacolod, Davao, General Santos or even in the country’s capital Manila, PECO’s rates are the highest.
With a total of 195-kilowatt-hour consumption for the same month, consumers in Leyte pays only monthly of P1,392.30, or P7.14 a kilowatt-hour. In Cebu and Bacolod, consumers pay only P1,753.05, or P8.99 a kilowatt-hour and P1,255, or P6.43 a kilowatt-hour, respectively. On the other hand, Davao City consumers is billed P1,339.65 a P6.87 a kilowatt-hour rate while General Santos has P1,066.65 or P5.47 a kilowatt-hour.
EUAN PAULO C. AÑONUEVO
The PBR is a price setting scheme whereby their rates are adjusted yearly based on spending requirements, inflation and the quality of service, among others.
PECO’s application, if approved, will drive its distribution charge higher from its current level of P0.87 a kilowatt-hour to P1.20 a kilowatt-hour, or P0.33 a kilowatt-hour at the minimum.
The additional charge sought by PECO will be used by the utility to construct a new office building amounting to P110 million in its old General Luna Plant and a new power sub-station amounting to P170 million in its property along Diversion road in Iloilo City.
PECO will also buy new vehicles for their executive officers; new office facilities and equipment like computers, chairs, and tables; concrete poles and distribution transformers, and will hire new office personnel.
Various consumer groups, however, called on the ERC to reject PECO’s rate hike petition as the latter will not provide new financial investment from its profits to cover the cost of its development plan.
“What performance incentive PECO is applying for when it has the worst quality of service and known for its anti-consumer track-record. What the consumers are demanding is immediate reduction of rates in the midst of PECO’s everyday brownouts and exorbitant rates which is considered the highest in the world,” Aldwin Ong, Freedom from Debt Coalition-Iloilo chairman, said in a statement.
PECO distributes electricity to 44,000 consumers in Iloilo City. Lopez-controlled First Philippine Holdings Corp. owns a 30-percent stake in the company while the rest of its shareholdings are controlled by private stakeholders.
Inclusive of generation, transmission, tax and subsidy charges, FDC earlier said that consumers in Iloilo City located in Region VI—Western Visayas, in the Central Philippines, is charged with the most expensive electricity rates, not only in the country, but also in the whole world.
A study conducted by the group found that for the month of August 2010 alone, a household consumer in PECO’s franchise with a total electricity consumption of 195-kilowatt-hour coughs out P2,525.95 for monthly bill at the per kilowatt-hour rate of P12.95.Compared to the same category of consumers located in other key cities in the Philippines like Leyte, Cebu, Bacolod, Davao, General Santos or even in the country’s capital Manila, PECO’s rates are the highest.
With a total of 195-kilowatt-hour consumption for the same month, consumers in Leyte pays only monthly of P1,392.30, or P7.14 a kilowatt-hour. In Cebu and Bacolod, consumers pay only P1,753.05, or P8.99 a kilowatt-hour and P1,255, or P6.43 a kilowatt-hour, respectively. On the other hand, Davao City consumers is billed P1,339.65 a P6.87 a kilowatt-hour rate while General Santos has P1,066.65 or P5.47 a kilowatt-hour.
EUAN PAULO C. AÑONUEVO
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