BAGUIO CITY — Power rates in Baguio City and Benguet province dipped this January, the Benguet Electric Cooperative (BENECO) said.
BENECO’s January 2025 rate of P10.7718 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) is lesser by P0.2025 compared to P10.9743/kWh in December.
This led to a total of P1,077.18 for households that consumed 100 kWh.
Fraiser P. Angayen, Non-Network Services Department manager at BENECO, explained that the lower rates were due to the reduction of the power cost that the cooperative purchased from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).
The power purchased from WESM represents 12.09% of BENECO’s total power requirement as the bulk of the power supply, which is 87.37%, comes from Limay Power Inc. (LPI).
The LPI is the electric cooperative’s major power supplier while the WESM is the country’s spot market for power supply.
“The decrease in coal price in the global market had a bigger impact in our generation rate, despite the noted increase in foreign exchange rate,” Mr. Angayen further explained.
According also to Mr. Angayen, the cost of power purchased from WESM and LPI compose the blended generation rate of BENECO that is passed on to consumers every month as generation cost.
“Had we bought all our power supply from the WESM, our generation rate could have been less than P4 per kWh since the spot market prices were low for the period,” Melchor S. Licoben, general manager explained, noting that buying all power requirements from the WESM would not be possible in view of the Emergency Power Supply Agreement with LPI.
Mr. Licoben further stressed, “Ideally, bilateral contracts are better to ensure a continuous and stable supply of electricity. The prices this month at WESM could be cheaper but in the long run, the prices could increase.” He added, “WESM is a volatile market that cannot guarantee a stable power supply. Relying on the WESM as a source of power supply will be risky.”
He further noted that WESM is there to stabilize supply whenever imbalances in the grid emerge. “But we are not sure of the power cost,” Mr. Licoben said. — Artemio A. Dumlao
