Ceneco getting best price from WESM

Sunstar Bacolod

WHILE the power rate increase that the Central Negros Electric Cooperative announced last December is still on hold, this could still be enforced or a decrease could even be implemented.

"We cannot yet calculate (if there's going to be an increase or decrease in the power rate)," Ceneco general manager Sulpicio Lagarde Jr. said on Thursday. "As of now, Ceneco is getting the best price from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM)."

Ceneco is paying P2 per kilowatt hour (kWh) of power supplied during the off-peak hours. During peak hours, or between 9 a.m.-4 p.m. and 6 p.m.-9 p.m., the rate is P7 per kWh.

Lagarde said that on the average, the power coop needs 56 megawatts of electricity per day.

But he stressed that the entry of more power cooperatives into the spot market would mean competition for Ceneco since WESM price could also go up.

The WESM, established after Republic Act 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 was signed into law, "is a venue where electricity made by power-producing companies are centrally coordinated and traded like any other commodity in a market of goods in a level playing field. Prices are driven by the law of supply and demand to buyers with the objective of giving the best price for consumers of electricity."

As a wholesale market, WESM is open to distributors, directly-connected customers, large users, and eventually, supply aggregators. Electricity is traded on a real time basis or on the "spot".

As of last month, total Ceneco rate, including eVAT and other adjustments, stood at P5.6353 per kWh for residential; P5.5733 for small commercial; P5.1749 for large commercial; and P5.7695 for street lights, with or without meters.

The generation system charge of P3.3923 per kWh and system loss charge of P.5879 is the same for all types of member-consumers although charges imposed vary with regard transmission, distribution and metering.

Last December, Ceneco said power rates could go up by 36 centavos per kWh after Christmas because its contract with the National Power sCorporation would end on December 25 so the coop could no longer avail of the government discount.

But Lagarde said Ceneco was able to sign a contract with the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. so the supposed increase did not push through. (CGC)

Published in the Sun.Star Bacolod newspaper on February 11, 2011.