Power Watch Negros secretary general Wennie Sancho (center) engaged in a confrontation with Ceneco director Eugenio Velasco (inset) during an open forum at the Ceneco press conference in Bacolod City yesterday.
(PNA Bacolod file photo) BACOLOD CITY - Higher fuel and generation costs have led to an increase in the residential power rates of all three distribution utilities in Negros Occidental in July. The increases were announced in separate advisories this week by the Central Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative (Ceneco), Northern Negros Electric Cooperative (Noneco), and the southern-based Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative (Noceco). In Bacolod and the neighboring cities of Bago, Silay, and Talisay; and the towns of Don Salvador Benedicto and Murcia, the average residential power rate for the billing month of July was pegged at PHP14.18 per kilowatt hour (kWh), a report of Ceneco said. This means an increase of PHP2.07 per kWh from only PHP12.11 per kWh in June. Acting general manager Ervin Stan Leo Ticar attributed the upward adjustment to the increase in generation, transmission, and system loss charges caused by the surge in supplier Palm Concepcion Power Corp.'s (PCPC) fuel ra