In what is described as an unavoidable circumstance, a decision to defer pass-on charges to ease the financial burden on consumers, coupled with the high cost of diesel fuel, led to the 21-percent increase in power rates this June 2026 billing month, information from the First Catanduanes Electric Cooperative, Inc. (FICELCO) stated.
Customers, particularly residential users, were shocked to find their monthly bill rising by about 21 percent for the April 25-May 25 billing period based on the effective rate of P19.4437 per kilowatt-hours.
The rate is P3.37 higher than the P16.0710/kWh rate for the March 25-April 25 period which customers paid last month.
In a post on its official social media account, FICELCO attributed the rate increase to its recovery of about P55.8 million representing arrears of P5 million as adjustment for the February-March 2026 billing and the deferred large portions of the monthly billings for the first Emergency Power Supply Agreement (EPSA 1) for the March-April 2026 and April-May 2026 billing periods that was supposed to be passed on to consumers during the billing month concerned.
The spiraling cost of diesel fuel used in running the generators over the last four months due to the Middle East conflict is the primary driver of the increase in generation rates in the Catanduanes grid.
From about P60 per liter by the last week of February 2026, diesel prices more than doubled to P133.70 per liter by the last week of March, based on records of the Department of Energy (DOE) Oil Industry Management Bureau.
It only dropped to P121.40 per liter by April 27, then to P104.20 per liter by May 27 and P96.10 per liter by June 22, as tensions eased upon the resumption of the ceasefire and peace talks.
As a consequence of the higher fuel prices, the True Cost Generation Rate applied for electricity produced under EPSA 1 also increased from about P17/kWh in February to P21 in March, P34 in April and P31 this May.
This resulted in an effective, blended rate of P16.8748/kWh in April, P23.7932/kWh in May and P23.7350/kWh in June.
In part, the drought condition now prevailing in Catanduanes also meant that the production of hydroelectric plants would go down.
With the Hitoma 1 hydropower plant of Sunwest Water & Electricity Co. (SUWECO) under repair for damage sustained during super typhoon Uwan, only its Solong HPP and the National Power Corporation’s Balongbong HPP are generating energy from renewable source.
In March 2026, the two hydroelectric power plants accounted for just under 10 percent of the total energy produced in the island grid.
Due to declining rainfall that fell to record levels starting March, their production dropped to just 3.6 percent and 2.24 percent by April and May, respectively, while that of diesel generators rose from 90 percent in March to 96 percent and 97 percent for the succeeding months.
On the other hand, FICELCO’s move to apply only part of the higher generation costs was in line with the directive issued by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) following Malacanang’s declaration of a State of National Energy Emergency aimed at mitigating the impact of rising electricity charges caused by the unrest in the Middle East.
The Commission urged electric cooperatives to consider appropriate mitigating measures to ease the financial burden on consumers, such as staggered recovery schemes to allow consumers to pay for the increase over a period of time rather than in a single billing cycle.
When the cooperative found that EPSA 1 bill for the Feb. 25-Mar. 25, 2026 period amounted to P28.2 million and would result in an effective power rate of P16.8748/kWh, the board of directors decided to apply only half of the total EPSA 1 bill, or P14.1 million, in the computation of the payable rate.
This resulted in a lower rate of P14.6888/kWh for residential consumers for the April 2026 billing month but left the cooperative with a balance of P14.1 million still to be recovered from its more than 10,000 member-consumer-owners (MCOs).
For May 2026, the power firm submitted an EPSA 1 bill of P73.5 million for the Mar. 25-April 25 billing period that was equivalent to an effective rate of P23.7932/kWh.
Again, FICELCO passed on to consumers only one-sixth (1/6) of the current amount, or P13 million, plus the overdue P14.1 million from the previous month, so that the rate charged for electricity consumed would be at P16.0710/kWh.
The cooperative’s recoverable charges from consumers stood at P65.4 million by this time.
For the June billing month, the EPSA 1 bill for the April 25-May 25 period ran up to P54.1 million, resulting in a similarly high effective rate of P23.7350/kWh.
Of the current amount, only one-third or P18 million was passed on by FICELCO to consumers, which were charged the lower rate of P19.4437/kWh.
This was in addition to the half of the P65.4 million from the May 2026 balance and the P5 million Feb.-Mar. 2025 adjustment.
The total pass-on charges of P55.8 million accounted for the P3.37/kWh increase in effective power rates implemented by the cooperative for last month’s power consumption.
The cooperative has yet to compute the effective blended rate for the May 25-June 25 billing period as the power supply has not submitted its bill for the month.
However, officials are hoping that, with the operation of EPSA 2 gensets by Isla Dagyab Energy Corporation as well as the 60-day initial operation of National Power Corporation’s rented gensets that delivers electricity at government-subsidized cost, the power rates would be somewhat lower than the rate for the June 2026 billing month and would not reach the P20/kWh level.
Interestingly, a review of the Catanduanes grid’s energy input for the last three previous months showed an surprising fact: the electricity generated by SUWECO and NPC for the island grid alone, excluding that for Palumbanes, actually increased in May 2026 at the start of the rotational brownouts.
From 6.3 million kWh for the February 25-March 25 billing period, the total output of the power suppliers increased by nearly 23 percent to 7.8 million kWh during the March 25-April 25 period and then by almost 6 percent to 8.27 million kWh.