Power rates: Pay more for less

By Modesto P. Sa-onoy

Consumers will always be at the mercy of monopolies, especially those that control the basic needs of people – power and potable water – unless the government is consciously protective of the common good. The agony of the consumers is worsened by the connivance of government officials to fleece the consumers more for financial and political gain.

And so, we have the Central Negros Electric Cooperative defending the high cost of electricity at the time when most people are financially on edge. CENECO explained that monthly power rates that it charges are computed in accordance with the approved guidelines of the Energy Regulatory Commission.

In a published statement, CENECO said it received complaints from consumer groups, lodged through the media, on the alleged “sudden” increase in power rates during community quarantine.

For CENECO’s information, just to quote one reliable complaint, not allegation, Fr. Cris Gonzales of the Bacolod Diocesan Social Action Center mentioned during Mass live in DYAF that although churches were closed their power charges were higher than before.

The Sanggunian Panglungsod did not ask CENECO for an explanation on mere allegations and the fact that CENECO explained how the rates were higher when there was less consumption shows the complaints are true. CENECO should not try to make people look stupid.

CENECO explained that the generation and transmission charges are “complete pass-through charges” and CENECO is only a collecting agent on behalf of the power suppliers and transmission service providers. It added that its revenues have remained constant at P1.18 per kilowatt-hour since 2010.”

Simply put CENECO has nothing to do with high rates because it is merely a collector and as payment for being a collector, it charges P1.18/kwh. Big business.

The power company also explained that the rate increase in May that covered the electricity consumption during the enhanced community quarantine, and a portion of April and May was mainly attributed to the reduction in the total energy consumption during the period.

Starting mid-March, it said, non-residential consumers, like commercial and industrial, have gradually reduced or even halted operations as mandated by the government to ensure safety against the coronavirus disease.

“This resulted in decreased power demand from big loads, such as malls, hotels, resorts, restaurants, and other business establishments. With the fixed cost component of the generation and transmission charges, the reduction in the total energy consumption resulted in an increase in the rate per kilowatt-hour,” CENECO said.

It explained further that fixed cost refers to the cost charged by power suppliers and transaction services that do not change regardless of the volume of energy consumed. “When total energy consumption is high, the fixed cost per kWh is lesser but when energy consumption is reduced, the fixed cost increases per kWh. Thus, during ECQ, wherein Ceneco has reduced power consumption, the rate per kWh increased mainly because of the fixed cost component.”

Simply then when we consume less, we pay more because CENECO has tied us down to an onerous contract that I had written about before.

Ceneco pointed out that the share of electricity consumption of residential consumers significantly increased from 45 percent to 65 percent, while that of non-residential users decreased from 55 percent to 36 percent.

“This was brought by the prolonged stay of consumers inside their residence when they were prevented to go out during the ECQ. This further explains the increase in the May or April bill of most residential consumers during the ECQ,” it added.

CENECO has increased rate compared to other coops in the province because it has more consumers in the highly urbanized city of Bacolod and has more commercial and industrial consumers.

We understand the result of CENECO’s contract that binds it to pay the same rate regardless of the situation. This is the result of CENECO’s slavish relations with its power suppliers that cannot be altered by the national crisis or people’s misery.

As collector, CENECO cannot claim it is unable to read the billing of every household. How can people know how much to pay without the reading? Line up for hours to personally pay in CENECO offices? Trust on CENECO’s integrity for its estimated billing?

CENECO was never intended to become a mere collector for the power producers, or to be make things difficult even to pay for its mythical owners.

Congress should review these onerous contracts.