VISAYAN Electric consumers can expect an increase in their electricity bill this April 2022.Raul Lucero, Visayan Electric president and chief operations officer, said Thursday, March 24, that increased power costs are due to the war between Russia and Ukraine, which has resulted in a rise in oil prices in the country.Lucero, however, clarified that only the generation cost is expected to increase starting in the first week or mid-April, adding that the distribution cost will not be affected.The generation charge refers to the composite cost generated and sold to distribution utilities like Visayan Electric.On the other hand, distribution charge is the cost of developing, constructing, operating and maintaining the distribution system, which delivers power from high-voltage transmission grids to end-users.As to the expected increase, Lucero said they could not tell how much it would be since their sources of electricity have yet to release their new billings.Lucero noted that since Russia supplies 30 percent of Europe’s coal or gas requirement, it can no longer deliver the raw materials to Europe, which is why the latter is now looking for sources of coal in Asia.He said coal prices in the world market are increasing since there are consumers such as Europe who are willing to buy at much higher prices.He said their two sources of electricity, Cebu Energy Development Corp. (CEDC) and Therma Visayas Inc. (TVI), are buying coal in Indonesia due to its high quality.Lucero said they are hoping that they could take advantage of the lower price from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) during off-peak time to minimize the increase in consumption rates among their consumers.The distribution utility covers the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Talisay, Naga, and the municipalities of Minglanilla, Liloan, Consolacion and San Fernando.