By Kit Bagaipo
The Bohol ChronicleThe public hearing on the proposed 16.5% increase in electric billing is set at the Governor's Mansion on Thursday.
The hearing will be conducted while a member of the board of trustees of Bohol Light Company Inc. (BLCI) is questioning the firm's proposal to increase power rates charged to its consumers.
Former OIC Gov. Victor dela Serna, a representative of the provincial government to the Bohol Light board of trustees, bared he was never informed of any meeting to discuss the rates adjustment.
The Bohol Light board, according to dela Serna, has the sole authority to propose and approve rate adjustments.
Although the five-man board of Bohol Light is controlled by a majority (3 of 5) of the private consortium led by Salcon Power Corporation, the due process of consultations was not followed, Dela Serna stressed.
Bohol Light seeks to implement a 16.5% increase.
A public hearing with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is scheduled this Thursday and Friday at the Governor's Mansion.
The power rates adjustment is due to the mandatory unbundling of rates under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA) which the power utility has to comply with the ERC.
However, according to Dela Serna, if the current rate charges are unbundled, there should be no increase since it is just, in effect, an itemization of the costs incurred by the utility company in relation to providing the service.
The new proposed rates will charge residential customers of Bohol Light an additional 86-centavos per kilowatt hour from the existing P5.2037 per kilowatt hour to P6.0652.
Commercial consumers will be charged with an additional 66-centavos per kilowatt hour from the present P5.5157 per kilowatt hour to P6.1774.
Public buildings and street lights will be charged P6.0652, up by 62-centavos per kilowatt hour from the existing P5.4451.
The unbundling of rates is the identification and separation of the individual charges of the utility firm to reflect the respective cost of providing each service.
An unbundled bill will include components such as power generation charge, transmission charge, systems losses, distribution charge and other costs relative to power distribution.
Linkback:
https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=3138.0