Power coop cuts rates

MAASIN CITY, Philippines  — The Southern Leyte Electric Cooperative (Soleco) has announced Monday that it has reduced power rates by P0.97 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for all customer classes after four months of electricity trading with the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).

Soleco general manager Jonathan Empeño, in a press statement published in PIA-8 website, said the coop’s residential power rate when it started trading with WESM, last March 26 was at P9.036 per kWh.

“After four months of direct participation with WESM, the residential rate has lowered to only P8.068 registering a decrease in power rate by 96.8 centavos,” he said.

Empeño said Soleco’s application for direct membership with WESM was approved by the Philippine Electricity Market Corporation (PEMC) after it complied with all the technical and computer technology requirements together with a prudential guarantee of P4 million placed deposit for its average trading value.

After months of direct participation of electricity trading with WESM, Soleco has benefited greatly by not only filling the power needs of Southern Leyte but also reducing the power rates by practicing intelligent trading “by buying from the market when electricity is cheaper and to use its contract when market electricity supply is expensive,” Empeño said.