CEBU — The Visayan Electric Company announced a substantial rate hike of PHP0.86 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for residential consumers within its Metro Cebu service area, effective for the billing period from May 13 to June 12, 2024. This adjustment marks a 7.3 percent increase from last month's rate of PHP11.28 per kWh to PHP12.1 per kWh.
According to Philippines News Agency, the rate hike is primarily due to elevated generation costs linked to recent price surges in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM). Raul Lucero, the company’s president and chief operating officer, explained that these generation rates are pass-through charges which are directly paid to power generation companies via WESM. This rate adjustment follows a series of power supply alerts issued by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), including several yellow and red alerts across the Luzon and Visayas grids due to insufficient power reserves.