Philippines: La Union power rate down by P1.50

Philippines: La Union power rate down by P1.50

The electricity rate for consumers of the La Union Electric Company (Lueco)
has gone down by P1.50 per kilowatt hour since August up to this month and
is expected to be lower by another 20-cents by December this year.

Bernardo Valero, Lueco general manager, said that from the P5.14 rate power
generation in July, it was reduced to only P4.38 per kilowatt hour during
the early days of August up to present.

"We at Lueco, our power rate have gone down to P1.50. Generation cost is now
at P4.38, as far as we are concerned. By next month (December), we expect
that it will still go down by about P4.20 only," Valero said.

Valero said that the reduction of power rates, not only in La Union but
almost in the entire country, is due to the influx of power companies who
anticipated the needed power supply for the growing demand of businesses in
various parts of the Philippines.

"There are a lot of electric companies now operating who will support the
growth rate of our country with regards to the power requirements. There is
an ample supply (of electricity) to serve as back up in cases of emergency,"
Valero said.

Valero explained that the country experienced higher power rates and
unstable electric supply about two years ago because of the simultaneous
maintenance of power utilities in the country.

"With all the corrective measures, all the (power) generations are now
properly monitored from their (electric) outages and maintenance schedules
because these are the reasons of the problems about the previous brownouts,"
he said.

He expects that not only Lueco, but almost all the power utilities, are now
retailing at cheaper prices of electricity.

Valero said Lueco is getting its supply from the Sual Power Plant in Sual,
Pangasinan with a total of 32 megawatts or 11-12 million kilowatts per
month.

Lueco franchise covers central La Union, particularly the towns of Bauang
and San Juan and San Fernando City, La Union with almost 500 thousand
households and business establishments.

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Link to Original Article:
http://northboundasia.com/2016/11/16/la-union-power-rate-p1-50/#.WC1YzeZ9600

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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com