Antique power firm cuts rate

Panay News
REGION August 28, 2016

SAN JOSE, Antique – Antique Electric Cooperative (Anteco) will charge a lower power rate this August.

From P10.97 per kilowatt hour (kWh) last month, it will charge P10.53 per kWh this month, or a reduction of P0.44.

Ruth Ann Fadrigo, Anteco information officer, said the rate reduction was mainly due to the lower rate of electricity purchased from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) and independent power producers Panay Energy Development Corp. (PEDC), Salcon Island Power Corp. (SIPC), and Green Core Geothermal, Inc. (GCGI).

The fluctuations of the generation rate each month are caused by several factors such as currency exchange rate, fuel and coal prices, among others, Fadrigo added.

The generation rate is about 47 percent of the power bill and is a pass-through charge.

In addition, the system loss charge, which is also a pass-through charge collected by the power supplier and transmission provider, went down by seven centavos per kWh this August.

Meanwhile, the transmission rate, also a pass-on rate charged by the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines, went up by 17 centavos per kWh this month, but still the overall charge was reduced, said Fadrigo.

Other charges that comprise the Anteco bill such as distribution, supply, metering (DSM) and reinvestment for sustainable capital expenditures (RFSC) are fixed by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) through its Rules for Setting Electric Cooperatives’ Wheeling Rates (RSEC-WR).

The universal charges (UC) such as missionary, environmental, RED, FIT allowance and stranded contract cost are also pass-through charges collected by the government and are approved or modified by ERC. (PIA-Antique/PN)