Beneco rates down Jan. due to less power cost

By Laarni S. Ilagan

 

BAGUIO CITY -- The Benguet Electric Cooperative started 2025 with a lower cost of electricity for its consumers compared the December last year.

     Beneco’s January rate of P10.7718 per kilowatt hour (kWh) is lesser by P0.2025 compared to last month’s rate of P10.9743/kwh.

    A household that will consume 100 kWh will thus pay P 1,077.18 for the month. Fraiser Angayen, non-network services department manager, said the lower rates was caused by the reduction of the power cost that Beneco 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 the Limay Power Inc. (LPI).

    The LPI is the electric cooperative’s major power suppler 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 (FOREX) rate,” Angayen said.

    Beneco purchased most of its power supply from LPI through its one-year Emergency Power Supply Agreement (EPSA) with the San Miguel affiliate.

    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 P4.00 per kWh since the spot market prices were low for the period,” Melchor Licoben, general manager said, noting buying all power requirements from the WESM would not be possible in view of the EPSA with LPI.

    Licoben added: “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. 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. WESM is there to stabilize supply whenever there are imbalances in the grid. But we are not sure of the power cost.”