MORE Power rate stays in PHP 14 range, below cooperatives

ILOILO CITY — MORE Electric and Power Corporation (MORE Power) kept its residential electricity rate in the PHP 14 range in October, below the PHP 15 to PHP 17 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) charged by other power distributors, the company said.

MORE Power’s residential rate for October is PHP 14.73 per kWh, up about PHP 0.32 per kWh across all customer classes.

Rap Dorilag, manager of MORE Power’s Energy Sourcing Department, discussed the rate on the company’s program “MORE Power at Your Service” on Oct. 23.

Dorilag said high electricity prices are affecting electric cooperatives and private distribution utilities across the Visayas and Mindanao, not only Iloilo City.

He attributed MORE Power’s lower rate largely to its supply contracts, with bilateral contracts now accounting for around 77% of its supply and the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) for 22%.

Dorilag said MORE Power is maximizing its bilateral contracts to limit its exposure to the WESM, where prices have spiked.

“Padayon kita sa pagpangita sa mas barato na supply,” Dorilag said. (We will continue looking for cheaper supply.)

He said MORE Power has also added a new supplier that provides solar power under a bilateral contract, which is being taken as replacement power.

Dorilag said the solar supply helps during the daytime, although electricity prices are typically highest at night during peak periods.

He said contracts cannot fully cover peak demand, leaving MORE Power exposed to the spot market from afternoon to evening, when demand is highest.

To address this, MORE Power is conducting another public bidding to procure power supply, particularly for peak hours, Dorilag said.

He said the bidding aims to lower costs by around PHP 2 per kWh, provided suppliers are willing to offer competitive prices for those hours.

Dorilag said MORE Power is also contracting for its future supply requirements to address high WESM prices.

Starting with the October billing month, MORE Power has removed the value-added tax (VAT) on system loss from consumers’ bills, bringing that component to zero.

Dorilag said MORE Power’s total system loss, technical and non-technical combined, has dropped to 5.23%, well below the regulatory cap.

He credited the reduction to improvements in the distribution system and efforts against electricity pilferage, which have lowered the system loss charge from last month.

The October increase stems from MORE Power’s power purchases in September, when manual load dropping (MLD) was still being implemented due to a shortage in electricity supply, Dorilag said.

He said the transmission charge also rose significantly, by around PHP 0.30 per kWh.

Dorilag said the overall rate would have stayed level, or even dropped slightly, had the transmission charge not increased. He also cited higher prices for ancillary services from the reserve market.

The Energy Regulatory Commission has announced action on the reserve market, but its effect will be felt only next month.

He said the regional secondary price cap remains in effect but is triggered only when the threshold is breached.

Spot market prices are hovering at the borderline of around PHP 12 per kWh, the level at which the cap would be reset if breached, Dorilag said.

Asked about the outlook for the November billing month, Dorilag said MLD was suspended in the first two weeks of October but resumed in the third week.

He said parts of the Visayas grid are again on yellow alert, with red alert in the evenings.

“Kung mag-red alert, anytime pwede kita liwat i-implement sang manual load dropping,” Dorilag said. (If there is a red alert, manual load dropping could be implemented again at any time.)

He said current MLD lasts around one hour, compared with about six hours previously [VERIFY].

Dorilag said not all supply has returned to the grid, although both units of Therma Visayas Inc. in Cebu are back online.

He said outages continue at the Kepco plant in Cebu and at Unit 3 of Panay Energy Development Corporation in Iloilo.

Dorilag said several plants also have scheduled maintenance shutdowns, which were earlier postponed so that outages would not happen at the same time.

He said the plants are now staggering their maintenance shutdowns, which are needed to keep their operations running.

MORE Power is also monitoring the El Niño phenomenon, although it has not yet brought severe heat.

MORE Power took over Iloilo City’s power distribution from Panay Electric Co. (PECO) in February 2020.