The Central Negros Electric Cooperative will  collect  three  centavos more from consumers this year if the application for rate increase filed by the state-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. will be  approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission.

PSALM, one of the power suppliers of CENECO,  had filed the petition before ERC  last year for the approval of the universal charge for stranded contract  will increase rates by P0.1274  over  the next two years if approved.

CENECO general manager Suplicio Lagarde said CENECO and other utility firms cannot do anything but  comply with ERC's order once it grants the petition of PSALM.

If the petition is approved, the current rate which is P8.66 per kilowatt/hour will  become P8.69, Lagarde said.

In an earlier statement, PSALM president Emmanuel Ledesma Jr. said   they filed the petition for rate increase to recover Napocor's stranded contract costs covering the years 2011 and 2012, amounting to P17.685 billion.

Ledesma said  that if their petition is not approved, they will continue to incur additional costs.

Under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001, or EPIRA,  stranded contract costs  include the excess of the contracted cost of electricity under eligible contracts over the actual selling price of the contracted energy output of these contracts in the market.*APN

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