Meralco raising rates this month
Credit to Author: Richmond Mercurio| Date: Sat, 9 Sep 2023 07:00:00 +0800
MANILA, Philippines — Rates of the Manila Electric Co. are up this month due to higher generation charge, ending two straight months of rate reductions for more than 7.7 million Meralco customers.
Meralco said overall rate for a typical household this September is up by P0.5006 per kilowatt-hour, to P11.3997 per kwh from P10.8991 per kwh last month.
The adjustment is equivalent to an increase of around P100 in the total electricity bill of residential customers consuming 200 kwh, P150 for those consuming 300 kwh, P200 for 400 kwh and P250 for 500 kwh.
“The main driver of the increase is the generation cost, which went up by 43 centavos per kilowatt-hour. The weakening of the Philippine peso against the US dollar is also a contributory factor because a big portion of the power producers is dollar-denominated,” Meralco vice president and head of corporate communications Joe Zaldarriaga said.
Meralco said the generation charge for September rose to P6.8252 per kwh from P6.3929 per kwh last month as a result of higher costs from power supply agreements (PSAs) and independent power producers (IPPs). Generation charge accounts for more than half of the electric rate.
Higher fuel prices and the peso depreciation buoyed charges from PSAs by P1.0362 per kwh and those from IPPs by P0.4776 per kwh.
Charges from the wholesale electricity spot market or WESM, on the other hand, declined by P0.5034 per kwh, due mainly to reductions in adjustments and other charges.
PSAs and IPPs accounted for 39 percent and 36 percent, respectively, of Meralco’s total energy requirement for this period.
WESM’s share to Meralco’s requirement went up to 23 percent this month from 17 percent the previous month after Sual Power Inc. terminated its 330-megawatt PSA with Meralco effective July 24.
Meralco said this prompted the company to partially source replacement power from the WESM, which was more expensive than what was previously supplied by SPI.
Meanwhile, transmission charge for residential customers recorded a slight reduction of P0.0081 per kwh.
The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines ceased collection of three percent national franchise tax starting this September billing period as directed by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), but this was offset by higher ancillary service charges, according to Meralco.