(Photo from Beneco)
BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — The more than 220,000 Benguet Electric Cooperative (Beneco) consumers will pay lower bills this month after the power distributor sourced part of its supply from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).
Laarni Ilagan, media in-charge of Beneco’s Community Relations Office, said the January rate is P10.7 per kilowatt hour (kWh), lower by P.20 compared to last month’s rate of P10.9/kWh.
Article continues after this advertisement“A household that will consume 100 kWh will thus pay P1,077.18 for the month in consumption,” she said.
FEATURED STORIES NEWSINFO Fuel prices to surge Tuesday; 3rd weekly hike this year NEWSINFO Marcos urged not to interfere in VP Duterte's impeachment case NEWSINFO Marcos appoints 30 to prosecutors’ postsFraiser Angayen, non-network services department manager, said the lower rates were caused by the reduction of the power cost that Beneco purchased from WESM.
He said the power purchased from WESM is 12.09 percent of Beneco’s total power requirement.
Article continues after this advertisementThe 87.3 percent is supplied by Limay Power Inc. (LPI).
Article continues after this advertisement“Beneco purchased most of its power supply from LPI with the existence of the one year Emergency Power Supply Agreement with the San Miguel affiliate,” Angayen said.
Article continues after this advertisementThe cost of power purchased from WESM and LPI comprises the blended generation rate of Beneco that is passed on to consumers every month as generation cost.
“Had we bought all our power supply from the WESM, our generation rate could have been less than P4 per kWh since the spot market prices were low for the period,” said Beneco general manager Melchor Licoben in a statement.
Article continues after this advertisementLicoben said WESM’s prices this month could be cheaper but the prices would eventually increase as it is a volatile market and cannot guarantee a stable power supply.
“Relying on the WESM as a source of power supply will be risky. WESM is there to stabilize supply whenever there are imbalances in the grid. But we are not sure of the power cost,” he added.
The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) shed 0.49 percent, or 36.67 points, to close at 7,400.33.
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