FICELCO: Power rates remain below P11 per-kilowatt-hour

By Edna A. Bagadiong

Sunday 12th of February 2012

VIRAC, Catanduanes, Feb. 12, (PIA) -- First Catanduanes Electric Cooperative, Inc. (FICELCO) said that power rates in the province in overall are still below P11 per kilowatt-hour for residential and commercial users.

Clarification came after the announcement of National Power Corporation that there will be a P1.43/kwh hike in the generation rate.

According to FICELCO management, the low electric rate is due to contribution of the three hydroelectric power plants to Catanduanes grid. However, they made it clear that the NPC rate hike has yet to be reflected in the power bill for the period December 26, 2011 to January 25, 2012 and will be imposed this month.

In a computation released by FICELCO, the power bill for January, 2012 will be lower than the bill last November, 2011 except for public buildings. Said decrease is due to the lower generation charge for the month with P3.6900 per kwh compared to P5.1998 for November 2011 since renewable power contributed a big portion of the total generation mix.

Therefore, actual cost for a residential consumer with 100-kwh consumption will be P10.5121/kwh while commercial users will be charged P9.3525/kwh due to lower distribution and supply system charges.

Moreover, public buildings will be charged P9.1282/kwh while street lights will have P14.5312/kwh. (EAB/ PIA Catanduanes)