BAGUIO CITY — Power rates in Baguio City and Benguet province increased this December.
Consumers will pay 23 centavos more per kilowatt-hour (kWh) this month, the power distributor Benguet Electric Cooperative (BENECO) said, blaming increases in generation costs.
Fraiser P. Angayen, Non-Network Services Department manager at BENECO, attributed the adjustment to P10.9743/kWh this December from November’s P10.7362/kWh the global coal prices and foreign exchange rates.
The generation charge is billed to BENECO by its power supplier and as a pass-through charge, BENECO will have to collect the charge from its member consumers and remit the payment directly to its power supplier.
The rate hike will mean residential customers who will use 100 kWh this December will have to pay P1,097.30.
Low-voltage commercial, industrial and public building consumers, as well as those using streetlights, will see a P0.2161/kWh hike, while high-voltage customers will experience an increase of around P0.2321/kWh. — Artemio A. Dumlao
