CamSur power rate hike: P3.89/kWh

By Juan Escandor Jr. 
Inquirer Southern Luzon 
9:10 pm | Wednesday, December 18th, 2013 

NAGA CITY—Citing the almost simultaneous shutdown of power sources in the Luzon grid as the reason, a cooperative serving this city and nine towns announced on Wednesday an increase of P3.89 per kilowatt hour (kWh) in power rates in the December bill of its consumers. Emmanuel Rojo, spokesperson of Camarines Sur II Electric Cooperative (Casureco II), on Wednesday announced the increase in power rate from P11.50/kWh in November to P15.30/kWh in December for residential consumers. 
“This happens because the power rate was jacked up by the expensive price of power from the spot market with the highest rate at P62/kWh,” Rojo said. He blamed the shutdown for maintenance work of major power suppliers, BacMan and Masinloc power plants, which forced Casureco II to buy its power supply from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), a spot market trading electricity to power distributors. 
Shutdown 
He said Masinloc, that made an unplanned shutdown from Nov. 11 to Dec. 10, provided 50 percent of its power supply, while BacMan, that shut down as scheduled from Oct. 16 to Dec. 15, contributed 40 percent to the total power requirement of Casureco II areas. Rojo said before the shutdown of Masinloc and BacMan, the power cooperative bought only 10 percent of its power supply from WESM but now it has totally relied on the spot market that sells power at an average of P9.46/kWh, which is at least P3 more than the cost of power from their regular suppliers. He said the power supply and power rate would normalize in February 2014. 
Casureco II is serving 10 areas that include Naga City and the nine municipalities of Pili, Milaor, Minalabac, Canaman, Magarao, Bombon, Calabanga, Tinambac and Siruma. 
Another cooperative in the province, Casureco III, which is servicing Iriga City and the towns of Baao, Buhi, Bato, Balatan, Bula and Nabua is buried in a billion-peso debt, but its officials see no quick solution in sight. 
Gargantuan debt 
Casureco III owed its debts to its power supplier San Miguel Energy Corp., National Grid Corp. of the Philippines, the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. and the National Electrification Administration. 
At a meeting near Malacañang Palace recently, Department of Energy officials met with stakeholders in Casureco III to try to find solutions to its financial woes. 
The meeting was presided over by Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla at a restaurant near Malacañang. Electricity in Casureco III’s franchise area had been restored on Dec. 6 after a week. At least 68,000 consumers in Iriga City and the towns of Baao, Buhi, Bato, Balatan, Bula and Nabua were affected.