Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez on Monday pushed for a price ceiling on electricity rates as provided in the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) and can be set by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).

“I have asked the Department of Energy to give me the guidelines on how we can trigger a price cap,” Benitez said in a press conference, as residential power rates of the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) here and two other distribution utilities in Negros Occidental soared in May.

In its advisory for the May billing, Ceneco announced an increase of PHP3.2066 per kilowatt hour (kWh) to PHP15.1632 from PHP11.9566 in the previous month.

“The main contributory factor to the rate hike is the increase in generation charge by 31.96 percent, resulting from the increase in Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) price,” it said.

Ceneco covers the cities of Bacolod, Bago, Talisay and Silay, and the municipalities of Murcia and Don Salvador Benedicto.

Down south, the Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative (Noceco) reported an upward adjustment of PHP3.33 per kWh, from PHP14.6309 in April to PHP17.9609 in May.

“The primary driver behind this adjustment is a significant increase in the cost of electricity purchased on the spot market,” the Noceco management said.

The Northern Negros Electric Cooperative (Noneco) had an increase also of PHP3.33 per kWh, with PHP17.8974 rate for the current month from PHP14.5674 in April. (PNA)