Iloilo power rates drop in December

Electricity consumers in Iloilo City will pay less this December after MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) cut its power rates by P0.5081 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) from last month.

The Razon-led firm said Tuesday that the average residential rate declined to P11.3477 per kWh, while the commercial rate dropped to P10.6661 per kWh from P11.1741 per kWh previously.

“We always assure our customers that even though generation and transmission charges are all pass-through, we make sure to always make an effort to source power from wherever electricity prices are lowest at any given time,” said MORE Power chief operating officer Engr. JM Zaporteza.

Reduced electricity demand

MORE Power said the lower rates were driven mainly by reduced electricity demand, which increased supply margins and pushed down prices at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).

Lower demand led to higher power availability, resulting in lower average WESM rates.

The company noted that despite temporary power plant outages during recent typhoons, quick restoration of affected facilities and weaker demand helped avoid major disruptions in the power market.

Transmission charges also dropped

Transmission charges also went down to P1.7918 per kWh from P1.8612 per kWh last month, following lower regulated charges and ancillary service costs from the reserve market.

System loss charges declined to P0.4086 per kWh from P0.4512 per kWh, reflecting lower generation and transmission costs.

MORE Power said its distribution, supply, and metering charges remained unchanged.