CANE POINTS: Why Did The Rates of Negros Power Increase in January?

Last Friday, Negros Power announced that its residential electricity rates for January 2026 increased by ₱1.0635 kilowatt-hour (kWh), or from ₱12.0441/kWh last December to ₱13.1076/kWh tis January.

The distribution utility pointed out that the increase was mainly due to “higher power supply costs and other industry-wide charges affecting the Visayas grid”.

Specifically, higher prices at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) caused the rate increase this month. WESM prices for January billing period spiked to ₱7.5031/kWh, an increase of ₱1.4626/kWh compared to ₱6.0405/kWh last month.

Moreover, other charges approved recently by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) took effect. These are the Green Energy Auction Allowance (GEA-ALL) of ₱0.0371/kWh, and the new Feed-in Tariff Allowance (FIT-ALL) of ₱0.2011/kWh. This translates to ERC-mandated additional charges of ₱0.2382/kWh every month.

The GEA-ALL, which takes effect this January billing period, will be used to fund new renewable energy (RE) projects, like wind, solar and hydro, in the country, while the new FIT-ALL, which took effect last November 2025, is the incentive or subsidy given to existing ERC-approved RE producers to ensure they will have a fair return on their investments, and thus encourage the entry of more RE players in the country.

These two increases from the WESM prices and ERC-mandated additional charges were somehow softened by the approximately ₱0.1857/kWh slight reduction in Transmission Charges.

WESM prices, which form part of the Generation Cost, and ERC-mandated charges are all “pass-through” charges. Distribution utilities (DUs) like Negros Power are merely collecting agents for these payments. After the DUs collect these charges from consumers, the DUs then immediately remit the collected amount to concerned entities.

The Transmission Charges are likewise “pass-through” charges. Thus, this month’s decrease in Transmission Charges was also passed on by the DUs to the consumers, thereby cushioning the impact of increases in WESM prices and ERC-mandated charges.

On the other hand, the Distribution Charge, which is the only item in the electric bill which goes directly to Negros Power, remains unchanged at ₱0.89/kWh.* (BB)