CALAPAN CITY: The heavy rains and the strong winds brought by the amihan (northeast monsoon) may have caused flooding and damage to agriculture in some areas in Oriental Mindoro but they also led to the lowering of the power rates in the province, the power distributor here said on Saturday, December 16.

Humphrey Dolor, general manager of the Oriental Mindoro Electric Cooperative (Ormeco), said that because of the increase in the power production of the hydroelectric plants in Baco, Naujan and San Teodoro, and the windmill farm in Puerto Galera, the power rate was reduced to an average of P1.597 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) this month.