BAGUIO CITY – Power rates being charged by the Benguet Electric Cooperative (BENECO) from its member-consumer-owners (MCOs) increased by P0.1758 per kilowatthour this April compared to the previous month following a slight increase in transmission and systems loss charges.
Based on the comparative data of BENECO’s power rates, residential consumers were billed P9.5114/kwh this month compared to the P9.3356/kwh that was billed to them by the electric cooperative last month.
BENECO’s transmission charge for April is P0.8496/kwh compared to the P0.7615/kwh last month.
Further, industrial rates for this month also increased by P0.2042.kwh from P8.5826/kwh in March to P8.7668/kwh this month while systems loss charge also increased by P0.0341/kwh from P0.5141/kwh in March to P0.5482 in April.
Similar increases were also reported for public buildings low voltage, streetlights, commercial high voltage and public building high voltage because of the aforesaid adjustments.
Despite the reported significant increase in the prices of coal in the world market which is one of the major components of coal-fired power plants, BENECO’s generation charge remains at a stable P4.9501/kwh.
Earlier, power industry experts predicted a significant increase in the prevailing power rates of electric cooperatives and private distribution utilities who rely on coal-fired power plants for their power supply following the skyrocketing prices of coal in the world market that reached more than $400 per cubic meter that is much higher compared to the $170 to $230 per cubic meter price during the prevalence of the pandemic.
Moreover, the experts claimed that the increase in the generation charge of power generation companies was supposed to be reflected on their monthly bill for April and may but the same did not happen for the current billing period.
Even with the slight increase in power rates, BENECO remains to be one of the electric cooperatives in the country that charges the cheapest power rates from its consumers and that its power rates is comparable to the charges being collected by private power distribution companies that are even much larger than the said electric cooperative.
Amidst the prevailing leadership crisis, BENECO is able to maintain the charging of cheap power rates from its increasing number of consumers over the past several years.
BENECO was able to also maintain its Class AAA classification which is the highest among the categorization of electric cooperatives in the country despite having to maintain providing cheap and quality power to non-viable areas within its franchise area, particularly in the remote villages of Benguet.
Engr. Melchor S. Licoben, BENECO general manager, rugged the consumers to pay their power bills in the accredited collection centers that are strategically situated in Baguio and Benguet and to the duly authorized collection agents from the various barangays within its franchise area to prevent them from being imposed surcharges and penalties that could cause the temporary disconnection of their power supply in the future.
