THE country’s June nationwide average electricity rate reached P12.43 per kilowatt hour (kWh), making it the highest in Southeast Asia for that month, according to the Department of Energy (DOE).
‘In Asean, we had the highest electricity rate for the month of June. We were even higher than Singapore,’ said DOE undersecretary Rowena Guevara during an online news briefing Monday.
Singapore’s average rate was P0.093 per kWh lower.
The DOE official attributed this to the rising electricity rate in the Visayas region which suffered the highest rates due to a severe supply shortage, caused by 21 power plants going on forced outage.
‘The main reason, particularly in the Visayas, is that electricity there is the most expensive because of a supply shortage. We had 21 power plants on forced outage, making the region dependent on imported power from Luzon and Mindanao. The Visayas has also been under yellow alert since May 13, and that has driven prices higher,’ said Guevara. Related story in B8 News.
A total of 60 yellow alerts were hoisted over the Visayas power grid from the start of the year up to July 17.
For the rest of the country, demand was also high during the summer months. As a result, more expensive power plants were dispatched to avoid blackouts.
For July, Guevara could not yet say if the country will still be charging the highest power rates. ‘The July data will remain unknown until July 26,’ she said.
By accelerating the integration of new renewable energy (RE) supplies, the DOE’s Task Force 200 mitigates rate spikes and reduces the country’s reliance on imported fossil fuels. ‘Of course, we always say electricity is expensive because we still lack supply. But Task Force 200 can help because many renewable energy projects have already entered the grid, as reported earlier,’ she added.
Last month, the agency reported the completion of 400 energy projects this year under Task Force 200, adding 1.5 gigawatts (GW) of capacity.
Task Force 200 is a three-year initiative mandated by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to fast-track 200 power projects by resolving regulatory bottlenecks and coordinating with private developers.
This initiative aligns with the Philippine Energy Plan, which targets increasing the country’s share of RE to 35 percent by 2040 and 50 percent by 2050.
Ahead of the State of the Nation Address (SONA) scheduled on July 27, various groups launched the AGOS platform to highlight the impact of high fuel costs and environmental degradation on small-scale fishers while demanding policies for local food systems.
Also, energy consumer groups will hold a ‘People’s State of the Nation’ on Tuesday to protest the government’s alleged failure to address high costs of electricity and its lack of preparedness amid ongoing national energy emergency.
Guevara said that the latest fuel price hike may result in higher electricity rates. ‘Depending on the price increase of fuel in the next few weeks, we might see an increase in the price of electricity,’ she said.
Meanwhile, DOE data showed that Southern Leyte Cooperative Inc. (SOLECO) recorded the highest power rate in June at P16.57 per kilowatt hour (kWh).