Possible August power bill hike looms in Metro Cebu

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Consumers in Cebu may pay higher electricity bills this August as elevated wholesale electricity prices continue to drive up generation costs, although utility firm Visayan Electric has sought regulatory relief to cushion the increase.

Visayan Electric (VECO) General Manager Engr. Mark Anthony Kindica said they expect August power rates to remain high because of sustained increases in spot market prices, which directly affect the cost of electricity purchased from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).

“We’ve seen over the past months sad nisaka gyud atong mga rates, and we are, I think until siguro this coming August na atong bill, naa’y possibility nga taas-taas because taas atong market nga rates,” Kindica said during a media forum earlier this week.

(We’ve seen our rates increase over the past few months, and I think our August bill may also become higher because market rates remain high.)

Kindica said VECO continues to coordinate with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to explore measures that could soften the impact of rising generation costs on consumers.

“So, depende sa taas sa market rates, but we are coordinating closely with ERC, kung unsa’y atong pwede mabuhat, kung naa ba’y mga deferment na atong buhat para dili kaayo taas ang pagsaka sa atong rates,” he said.

(It depends on how high market rates go, but we are coordinating closely with the ERC to determine what we can do, including possible deferments, so the increase in rates will not be too steep.)

Kindica said the ERC had already allowed VECO to defer a portion of its market costs in the previous billing cycle, helping moderate the increase in electricity rates.

“So far, from atong last month, naa ta, gitagaan ta sa ERC nga ma-defer nato ang portion sa market cost para dili kaayo musaka atong rates,” he said.

(Last month, the ERC allowed us to defer a portion of the market cost so our rates would not increase too much.)

A deferment allows a distribution utility to temporarily postpone recovering part of its costs from consumers instead of charging the full amount in a single billing period.

Despite the expected increase in August, Kindica expressed optimism that electricity prices would gradually ease later this year.

“But we’re seeing siguro by the fourth quarter of this year, medyo mu-stabilize na atong presyo so far. But we can’t speculate lang pila’y price, but we’re seeing nga munaog gyud siya,” he said.

(By the fourth quarter of this year, we expect prices to stabilize. We can’t speculate on the exact rate, but we are seeing prices eventually go down.)

Asked whether consumers should expect another increase in August, Kindica said wholesale market prices remain elevated.

“Among kuan is medyo mahal-mahal gyapon o taas gyapon ang spot market,” he said. (Our assessment is that the spot market remains relatively expensive.)

He added that VECO would continue working with the ERC to help manage electricity rates.

“But we can still go with, mu-coordinate lang mi gyapon with ERC how we can also manage the rates in this month,” he said. (We will continue coordinating with the ERC on how we can manage rates this month.)

To minimize outages, VECO continues to rely on its Interruptible Load Program (ILP), under which participating large electricity users, including malls and cement plants, voluntarily reduce their power consumption during periods of constrained supply.

Kindica said the program has helped spare most residential and small business consumers from rotational brownouts despite recurring supply shortages.

“We call them first and ask if they can voluntarily reduce their consumption so we won’t have to implement rotational brownouts affecting our residents and small customers,” he said. “So far, only a few areas have experienced rotational brownouts because of their cooperation.” / mme

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