ILOILO City — MORE Electric and Power Corporation (MORE Power) recorded the lowest electricity rate in Western Visayas for September 2026, following a slight reduction in its average residential rate driven by the implementation of a regional secondary price cap.
According to MORE Power’s rate advisory released last month, the average residential electricity rate decreased to P14.42 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) from P14.45 per kWh in August, a reduction of P0.0293 per kWh.
The price reduction was primarily driven by a lower generation charge, which dropped from P7.63 to P7.57 per kWh, alongside slight decreases in system loss.
MORE Power’s residential rate settled at P14.4187 per kWh, lower than the rates of the six electric cooperatives included in the comparison.
Aklan Electric Cooperative Inc. (AKELCO) posted the second-lowest rate at P15.1185 per kWh, followed by Iloilo Electric Cooperative I (ILECO I) at P15.7921, Iloilo Electric Cooperative II (ILECO II) at P15.8627, Antique Electric Cooperative Inc. (ANTECO) at P15.9117, and Iloilo Electric Cooperative III (ILECO III) at P16.4959.
Capiz Electric Cooperative Inc. (CAPELCO) recorded the highest rate among the seven utilities at P17.3312 per kWh.
The comparison showed that MORE Power’s rate was nearly P2.91 per kWh lower than CAPELCO’s.
The rate adjustment came after the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) issued an order on Sept. 10 implementing the Regional Secondary Price Cap (RSPC) for the Visayas and Mindanao grids, retroactive to the August 2026 Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) billing period.
According to MORE Power, the regional price cap reduced the average residential rate to P14.42 per kWh, compared with the projected P16.56 per kWh under the standard system-wide price cap computation.
The regional mechanism lowered the generation charge from the projected P9.43 to P7.57 per kWh, helping cushion consumers from elevated electricity costs amid supply constraints and high spot market prices.
The ERC’s regional implementation also increased the number of price intervals in the Visayas covered by the secondary price cap from 397 under the system-wide computation to 4,833 under the regional computation, according to MORE Power’s presentation.
Despite the reduction in generation costs, other components of the electricity bill saw increases. Transmission and ancillary service charges rose from P1.88 to P1.94 per kWh, reflecting changes in transmission costs and ancillary service requirements.
MORE Power noted that the regional price cap affected only the WESM component of the generation charge, while other power supply sources and bill components remained subject to their respective charges.
The rate adjustment came after tight supply conditions in the Visayas, which had experienced repeated manual load dropping advisories beginning in May 2026 due to power plant outages, high demand, and limited electricity imports from Mindanao during grid alerts.
MORE Power’s September update noted that the regional price cap was applied retroactively to the August WESM billing period, with the final WESM bill issued on Sept. 20 used in computing consumers’ September billing rates.
The company’s average residential rate of P14.42 per kWh represented a P0.03-per-kWh decrease from August, providing some relief to households amid continuing concerns over electricity costs./PN
