ZAMBOANGA CITY – The Zamboanga City Electric Cooperative (Zamcelco) announced Monday that the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has granted the cooperative a provisional authority to implement the proposed revised rate schedule under the Rules for Setting Electric Cooperatives’ Wheeling Rates (RSEC-WR) effective the billing period of January 2010.

“Zamcelco received the ERC Order on January 29, 2010 approving the Application for Approval of an Adjustment in Rates under the RSEC-WR methodology which Zamcelco filed with the Commission on November 9, 2009 under ERC Case No. 2009-129 RC,” said Zamcelco general manager Reinerio Ramos.

In the RSEC-WR clustering scheme, Zamcelco together with five other cooperatives in the country was categorized as Group “G” EC, whose Operating Revenue Requirement (ORR) per kWh.

In the same order, Group “G” ECs are also given authority to collect Members’ Contribution for Capital Expenditure (MCC) amounting to P0.1518/kWh for all customer classes which had likewise been reclassified into Residential, Low Voltage and High Voltage Customers in agreement to the RSEC-WR.

“The cooperative will implement the Rate Caps on a 50-50 percent basis during the three-year Regulatory Transition Period, hence the provisionally authorized Revised Rates Schedule will be reflected in consumers’ bills starting in the February 2010 billing cycle.

By January 2011 to January 2012, the proposed Revised Rates Schedule will have been fully or 100 percent implemented,” Ramos added.

For instance, based on the existing electric rates, the total DSM charges amount to P116.33 for a residential customer with a 100kWh consumption billed in January 2010.

With the implementation of the RSEC-WR, the DSM charges will now amount to P112.41 on top of the Members’ Contribution for Capital Expenditure (MCC) of P15.18/kWh or a total of P127.59.

The government EVAT is also adjusted correspondingly. Hence, the total amount due for a 100 kWh before is P531.30, while with the RSEC-WR implementation the same 100kwh will amount to P543.92 or a difference/additional billing of P12.62.