ILOILO City — Rising generation and transmission costs continue to push up power rates across the country, with distribution utilities affected whenever the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) places the Visayas under yellow or red alert. Manual load-shedding during these alerts, caused by supply shortfalls, has disrupted normal operations.
Limited supply amid high demand has driven prices higher, forcing many distribution utilities and electric cooperatives to raise their rates. In June, MORE Electric and Power Corporation (MORE Power) relied more on bilateral suppliers because prices in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) surged. Sixty-two percent of MORE Power’s supply came from bilateral contracts and 38 percent from WESM.
Spot market prices climbed from P4.45 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to P10.30/kWh. Overall, the generation rate rose by P2.10/kWh, reaching P7.735/kWh. Meanwhile, MORE Power’s distribution charge for residential customers remains unchanged at P2.33/kWh and has been stable for more than three years.
This June, MORE Power’s rate reached P13.91/kWh, up P2.04 from May. Historically, the said distribution utility has the lowest rates from January to May of 2026 tax-inclusive, while many other distribution utilities publish tax-exclusive rates.
To avoid bill shock to consumers, implementation of staggered payment to suppliers was postponed for the month of June. This will ensure that bills do not overlap in the coming months. It also means the increased electricity costs will go directly to the power suppliers and no added cost will go to distribution utility.
NGCP reports a shortage of supply in the Visayas grid caused by outages at large coal-fired plants. On July 10, NGCP said 15 plants experienced forced outages while 11 others were operating at derated capacity, leaving about 1,031 megawatts (MW) unavailable.
Transmission constraints also limit the flow of power from Luzon through the Leyte–Cebu interconnection, reducing the ability to support the Cebu–Negros–Panay grid.
These facts indicate that MORE Power did not contribute to the increase in electricity prices this June.
The company reiterated that all its electricity rates since beginning operations in Iloilo have been tax-inclusive, ensuring no hidden charges on consumer bills. /PN
