Consumers will experience a temporary relief from the high cost of energy as the price of petroleum products are reduced effective today while power rates in Metro Manila are set to decline this month as well.
This week’s oil price rollback was attributed to the growing fears of traders of the possibility of an economic recession later this year which is expected to greatly cut demand for energy.
According to the Department of Energy (DOE), the average Manila price per liter of gasoline (RON95) as of August 2 was at P75.95, diesel at P74.90 and kerosene at P82.42.
Caltex and Seaoil cut per liter prices by P2.10 on gasoline, P2.20 on diesel and P2.55 on kerosene.
PTT and Clean Fuel adjusted per liter prices downward by P2.10 on gasoline and P2.20 on diesel.
The DOE said as of August 2, year-to-date adjustments of petroleum products summed to a net increase of P19.65 per liter for gasoline, P32.35 per liter for diesel and P27.30 per liter for kerosene.
Reuters reported that as of Thursday last week, Brent crude futures settled at $94.12 per barrel with West Texas Intermediate crude futures ending at $88.54 a barrel. The prices are said to be their lowest since before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
The report added an unexpected surge in US crude inventories last week also became a factor in pulling down prices.
Meanwhile, power rates in Metro Manila will go down for the second consecutive month in August as lower generation charge pulled down overall rates, according to the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco).
The P0.2087 per kilowatt hour (kWh) downward rate adjustment brings overall power rates of Meralco to P9.5458 this August from last month’s P9.7545 per kWh.
This is equivalent to a decrease of around P42 in the total bill of residential customers consuming 200 kWh monthly.
Meralco said generation charge for August went down by P0.1944 to P6.5812 per kWh from P6.7756 per kWh last month due to the decrease in charges from power supply agreements (PSAs) which more than offset increases in charges from independent power producers (IPPs) and the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).
The company added other factors that caused a decline in this month’s power rates include the continued implementation of refunds totaling P48.3 billion as ordered by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
Likewise, the ERC ordered Meralco to lower its distribution charge to P1.3522 per kWh beginning this month after being unchanged from P1.3810 per kWh since July 2015.
Transmission charge for residential customers rose by P0.0235 per kWh but taxes and other charges registered a net decrease of P0.0018 per kWh. – Jed Macapagal
