No power rate hike in Baguio: Beneco
BENGUET Electric Cooperative (Beneco) assured consumers in Baguio and Benguet Province there will be no increase in commercial and residential power rates.
The power utility said it did not deliberately act to increase the rates in June but reiterated the hike was based on the feed-in tariff Allowance (FIT-All) which is a mere passthrough charge.
These pass-through charges collected from consumers are remitted to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), Power Sector Asset Liability and Management Corporation (PSALM), Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).
Beneco said the electric cooperative has no plans of increasing charges in the distribution, supply, and metering components of the rate that is within the control of the power distribution utility.
“The power firm cannot make the same assurance in terms of the generation and transmission charges, the rate components that are within the purview of the power supplier and the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) and beyond the control of the electric cooperative,” Beneco general manager Melchor Licoben said in the press statement.
The power industry has been deregulated by the passage of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) which led to the unbundling of the rates, allowing the consumers to see the rates for each component of the electric bill.
“The power industry is deregulated and that the power rates are variable because of the different components, some of which are beyond the jurisdiction of Beneco as the same are within the ambit of the power generators and the transmission companies,” Licoben said.
Earlier, residential and commercial power rates in Baguio and Benguet increased in June following the increase in the transmission and other charges that are out of Beneco’s control.
The Energy Regulation Commission (ERC) also allowed to be included in the rate computation for June is the feed-in tariff for renewable energy sources that also contributed to the slight increase in the power rates.