Tagum City – The Davao Consumer Movement (DCM) is urging the national government to look into the country’s power system after residential rates in the Davao Region hit more than P10/kWh for September.
DCM claimed that Davao Light announced that it will increase the residential rate by P1.5625/kWh. Its residential rate is now at P10.6407/kWh from P9.0782/kWh in August.
Davao Light said the increase “is attributed to higher power supply prices in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) following power plant outages, which is among the factors that led to the yellow alerts issued by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) last month.”
DCM also noted that Davao del Sur Electric Cooperative’s (Dasureco’s) increase of P1.0794/kWh, bringing their residential rate to P11.3187/kWh from P10.2392/kWh.
Dasureco also said that aside from the WESM, the power rates this month are also due to “the approval of the NGCP’s Maximum Allowable Revenue (MAR) and the collection of Under-Recovery 2016-2022 by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), which is a pass-through charge that will also be reflected on consumer bills.”
The Davao Oriental Electric Cooperative (Doreco), according to DCM, also announced that its residential rates will increase by P0.9858/kWh, the lowest increase for this month. The residential rate in their franchise area is now P12.7382/kWh, up from P11.7524/kWh.
Meanwhile, DCM alleged that the Northern Davao Electric Cooperative (Nordeco) will increase its rates by almost P2. Residential rate in its franchise area is now at P14.2651/kWh from P12.3583/kWh, an increase of P1.9068/kWh. DCM claimed Nordeco remains the most expensive residential rate in the Davao Region.
Following the increase, the DCM is calling on the national government to review the current rates, especially the rates being passed on to the consumers, those coming from the WESM and NGCP.
Likewise, the group said power distributors must review and make smarter decisions in where they source their power from to ensure balance in their supply mix and prices are properly managed.
“As prices hit more than P10 across the region, this becomes another burden for consumers here. Not only does this increase the electric bills that they are paying, but it could also increase the prices of goods and services in the long run,” the group added. PR
