Electricity to cost much higher by 2010
By ED SESTOSO
The cost of electricity will rapidly increase up to a maximum of P3.00 per kilowatt hour by the year 2010.
This was the surprise disclosure of information officer Stephen Salgado of the Negros Oriental 2 Electric Cooperative (NORECO 2) during a briefing of an association of government information officers where he is also a member held recently.
The NORECO 2 information officer explained that NORECO 2 is also set to buy additional power from two Independent Power Providers (IPP) based in Cebu City, namely KEPCO SALCON and Global Business Corporation, in response to the expected increase in the demand for electricity in the following years.
The current cost of electricity per kilowatt hour as of April 2008 is P5.57.
Salgado said that once NORECO 2 starts buying power from the said IPPs, the power rate per kilowatt hour is seen to jump by a maximum of P3.00, putting conservative minimum cost estimates at P7.56 per kilowatt hour.
An average household that consumes 100 kilowatthours per month pays P557 for their electricity at the current rate of 5.57 per kilowatt.
But in year 2010, the same household’s power bill will soar to P756 a month once the rate per kilowatthour reaches P7.56.
The information officer added that realistic estimates would peg the power rate in 2010 to reach P8.00 per kilowatt hour due to other charges like transmission charge, distribution charge, supply charge and other charges mandated by RA 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA).
The national government is now tackling head-on the problem on the high cost of electricity.
“''Now, we turn to the other basic need that is escalating in price -- energy and power,'' said Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in his recent visit to Dumaguete City .
Presently, the electric cooperative is getting its supply from Generation Company (GENCO) in Valencia , a power-generating company partially owned by the government but is set to be fully privatized this year.
GENCO generates a real dependable capacity of only 170.8 MW and this is seen to either remain the same or decrease in the following years.
Salgado further elaborated that GENCO’s capacity is insufficient to meet the growing demand for power in Negros Oriental as GENCO also supplies power to Cebu , Negros Occidental and Panay .
The electric cooperative already struck an agreement with KEPCO SALCON on July 4, 2007 while a same agreement with Global Business Corporation is currently in the works added the information officer.
Salgado assured power consumers that there is no need for panic.
“One good thing about this is, dili ta angay mahadlok. We can still maintain the fees in our power bills if we lower our power consumption,” he stressed.
He called on power consumers to lower their consumption by using power-saving electrical appliances and cutting down on their power usage.
“It might be an inconvenience, but it won’t hurt us to save power,” he added.
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Mon May 26, 2008 9:25 pm