Leonardia affirms opposition to planned power rate hike
BACOLOD CITY — Mayor Evelio Leonardia yesterday endorsed to the Sangguniang Panglungsod for appropriate action the Regional Development Council (RDC) Resolution strongly opposing the increase of P1.38 per kilowatt hour (kwh) Basic Generation Charge for the Visayas Grid.
In his letter addressed to Vice Mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson and to the members of the Bacolod City Council, Leonardia asked for the passage of a resolution opposing the said rate increase.
“It is our mandated duty to ensure the living condition of our constituents with least and affordable consumption of electricity bills,” Leonardia said.
Earlier, Antique Governor Salvacion Perez provided Mayor Leonardia a copy of RDC Resolution No. 14, series of 2009, “Resolution Strongly Opposing the P1.38 per Kilowatt Hour Basic Generation Increase for the Visayas Grid”.
The said resolution was endorsed and approved during the RDC VI meeting on March 31, 2009. RDC VI Resolution also stipulated that the National Power Corporation (NPC) and the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM) jointly proposed for a P1.38/kwh-increase in the basic generation charge for the Visayas grid as specified in ERC Case No. 2009-004 RC.
In relation to this proposed increase, the ERC granted a provisional rate increase of P0.8376/kwh (a reduction of P0.3084 from the original P1.1460/kwh) because of opposition raised by Local Government Units and the private sector during the ERC Public Hearing in Cebu City held last March 25, 2009.
Local Government Units, household and industrial consumers, the business sector, power distribution utility groups oppose this power rate hike which is another toll to be passed on to the consumers who are already heavily burdened with the effects of the global economic crisis and will discourage more investments in the region.