Expect lower rates in coming months – MORE Power

By Francis Allan L. Angelo

Consumers of MORE Power in Iloilo City can expect lower electricity bills in succeeding months despite rate increases in the June 2021 billing cycle due to drastic movements of prices in the electricity spot market.

Kaye Eliquin, Energy Sourcing and Retail Electricity Supply manager of MORE Power, said the projected lower bills after June 2021 is due to cheaper electricity from the Unified Leyte Geothermal Power Plants ran by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp (PSALM).

Eliquin told Aksyon Radyo-Iloilo that MORE Power is now drawing 100 percent of its power requirement from the Visayas grid as its 1-year emergency power supply contract Panay Energy Development Corp (PEDC) is expiring this month.

The other power suppliers of MORE Power are Panay Power Corp, KEPCO, Aboitiz Power, PSALM and the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).

MORE Power is now drawing 100 percent of its power requirements from the grid via its 69KV switching station at Brgy. Banuyao, LaPaz.

The station connects Iloilo City directly to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) which manages the transmission lines or “superhighway” between power plants and distribution utilities and electric cooperatives.

The drastic spike in WESM rates also affected other electric cooperatives and distribution utilities.

The rate increase in the spot market was driven by high demand in Luzon after major plants shut down for maintenance and even emergency works.

Eliquin said the sudden spike in demand for power in Luzon also affected rates in Visayas as it filled in the supply deficit.

“Sometimes we export power to Luzon so prices in WESM Visayas are affected. But for the months of May to June, WESM prices went up about P30/kWh. Previously, the average price of WESM in a month is P2 to P3. This year, even amid the pandemic, that went up to P7, that’s an all-time high,” she added.

In Iloilo province, Iloilo Electric Cooperative Ileco) I will increase its rates by P0.44 per kilowatt-hour while Ileco II will charge a whopping P2.44/kWh. Ileco III’s rate will increase by P1.64/kWh

Eliquin said generation charges, or the tariff paid to power producers account for almost 60 percent of the consumers’ monthly bills.

She said that MORE Power’s rates for June increased between P0.25 to P.028 per kWh because of the spike in WESM rates, but she also noted the P0.55/kWh decrease in May 2021.

Eliquin added that cheaper power from PSALM will offset the rate increase and redound to lower bills.

“This month we will increase by 25 centavos but in the succeeding months, I can give my word that our generation charge will go down in the coming months.”

MORE Power is also conducting a competitive selection process to get the cheapest power rates from power generators.

“The aim is to get the best prices from the market. Before, the producers and the distribution utilities will just agree on the price and sign the bilateral contract. But that is not anymore allowed. Just to avoid sweetheart deals, the Department of Energy mandated every utility to undergo competitive selection process. MORE Power is holding on its mandate to lower electricity rates,” Eliquin said.

Eliquin added that they are expecting P4/kWh rate from producers who joined the CSP, particularly from coal-fired power plants. At least 13 power producers joined the selection process, and the winning bidder will be known by July 2021.

MORE Power eyes to award the supply contracts to at least two suppliers.

The contract for the new suppliers chosen via CSP will officially start January 2022 after approval by the Energy Regulatory Commission.

According to data from MORE Power, it managed to bring down rates from a high of P10.52/kWh in March 2021 to P9.71 in May 2021. Its rate is even cheaper than Meralco’s 9.88/kWh.