Power rates in areas covered by the franchise of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) will increase for the second consecutive month in August.
Meanwhile, prices of all petroleum products are down for the third straight week starting today on global signals indicating a possible weaker demand for petroleum products.
Meralco said the P0.0327- per kilowatt hour (kWh) increase brings overall power rates to P11.6339 from last month’s P11.6012 per kWh.
The adjustment is equivalent to an additional P7 in the total bill of residential customers consuming 200 kWh monthly.
Meralco said overall rate increase was primarily due to the P0.1086 per kWh increase in the transmission charge for residential customers due to higher charges for ancillary service which covers reserves necessary to maintain grid reliability.
For this month, ancillary service charges went up by more than 50 percent as charges for contingency and dispatchable reserves doubled.
Meralco said the transmission charge increase more than offset the P0.0503 per kWh reduction in the generation charge.
Charges from Independent Power Producers (IPPs) were lower by P0.2974 per kWh due to higher IPP dispatch and Philippine peso appreciation that affected around 97 percent of IPP costs that were dollar denominated.
Meanwhile, prices in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) also registered a reduction as Luzon’s average peak demand decreased by 690 megawatts. The secondary price cap was triggered only 2.3 percent of the time during the July supply month from previous 6.6 percent.
However, the effective WESM charges for the month increased P0.5940 per kWh after adding the third of four installments of the deferred May WESM costs ordered by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC). The deferment will be until the September 2024 billing.
Charges from Power Supply Agreements (PSAs) went up P0.0421 per kWh mainly due to higher fuel-related costs.
The company said that Universal Charge for Missionary Electrification also registered a reduction of P0.0433 per kWh following completion of the recovery of ERC-approved true-up rate while taxes and other charges also went up by P0.0177 per kWh.
Pass-through charges for generation and transmission are paid to the power suppliers and the grid operator, respectively, while taxes, universal charges and feed-in-tariff allowance are all remitted to the government.
Meralco’s distribution, supply and metering charges, remain at P0.0360 per kWh.
PSAs accounted for 40 percent of Meralco’s total power requirements, followed by IPPs, 33 percent and; WESM, 27 percent.
Meanwhile, cost of fuel across categories are down.
Caltex and Seaoil reduced per liter prices by P2.45 on gasoline, P1.90 on diesel and P2.40 on kerosene.
Jetti, PTT and Clean Fuel adjusted per liter prices downward by P2.45 on gasoline and P1.90 on diesel.
This is the third straight week of price drop on gasoline with reductions totaling to P3.30.
This is the fifth straight week of reduction on diesel and kerosene totaling P4.30 and P5.50, respectively.
Data from the Department of Energy (DOE) as of August 6 showed Manila price per liter of gasoline (RON91) stood at P59.45, diesel at P55.75 and kerosene at P72.90.
DOE data also showed year-to-date adjustments as of the same date stood at a total net increase of P9.50 per liter for gasoline, P6.65 per liter for diesel but a net decrease of P0.75 per liter for kerosene.
Reuters reported that as of Friday last week, Brent crude futures settled at $79.66 a barrel while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures ended at $76.84 per barrel.
The report said the US dollar index went down by 0.136 percent. A weaker US dollar effectively makes oil cheaper for foreign buyers.
Global concerns on possible recession as well as continued geopolitical tensions and low fuel consumption in China have contributed to the decline in petroleum prices.
