The summer heat plus the 19.38 centavos per kwh additional Universal Charge to be imposed for Veco customers beginning March 2013 is truly a double whammy. Incidentally, the additional 19.38 centavos Universal Charge is equivalent to 163% increase over the previous rate.
The ERC, according to news reports, will determine a new Universal Charge on or before March 15 every year. Another electricity charge worth mentioning here is Systems Loss. According to the definition, Systems Losses refer to the cost of electricity that was either lost in transmission through power lines or pilfered.
Veco's Systems Loss charge in February 2013 was 0.9475 per kwh compared to Meralco's 0.6558 or about 45 percent more. There were several advertisements in the local newspapers about public apologies by electricity pilferers. We are surprised why Veco, which services 346,983 customers (Meralco has over 5 million), has a higher Systems Loss charge.
May we know from Veco management the reason for the difference?