BAGUIO CITY — Member consumers of the Benguet Electric Cooperative (BENECO) will have a little extra to spend as power rates for November decreased for all types of consumers.

From October’s P11.1373 per kilowatt hour (kWh), this month’s rates went down to P10.7362 per kWh for residential consumers, or a reduction of P0.4011 per kWh.

This is equivalent to a P1,079.23 worth of electric bill for households consuming 100 kWh, Laarni S. Ilagan, BENECO Consumer Relations Associate explained.

“The decrease is mainly due to the reduction in the generation charge component of the bill as a result of the electric cooperative’s participation in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM),” Fraiser P. Angayen, Non-Network Services Department manager at BENECO, said.

Mr. Angayen said that there was a P0.2803 per kWh decrease in generation charge. Additionally, the transmission charge also went down by P0.0018 per kWh and system loss charge by P0.0357 per kWh.

The generation and transmission charges are components of the power bill which are pass through charges. BENECO collects them from consumers, but they are remitted to the power supplier and the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines, respectively.

BENECO resumed its participation in the WESM last month. — Artemio A. Dumlao