Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) said December power rates will go up by P0.3044 per kilowatt hour (kWh) still due to higher cost of power from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).
The third consecutive month of upward rate adjustment will be equivalent to an increase of around P61 in the bill of a residential customer consuming 200 kWh monthly. This brings overall power rates to P9.8623 per kWh, from November’s P9.5579 per kWh.
Meralco said from P5.0317 per kWh last month, generation charge increased to P5.1967 per kWh, an upward adjustment of P0.1650 per kWh.
Charges from WESM increased by P1.0799 per kWh driven by tighter supply conditions in the Luzon grid as average capacity on outage last month increased by 525 megawatts because of scheduled and forced outages of some power plants, paired with the natural gas supply restriction from Malampaya.
Cost of power from independent power producers (IPPs) and power supply agreements (PSAs) also increased by P0.1106 per kWh and P0.0987 per kWh, respectively, due to lower average dispatch and a weaker peso against the US dollar.
This month’s transmission charge for residential customers increased by P0.0753 per kWh as a result of higher ancillary service charges from the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), as taxes and other charges rose by P0.0641 per kWh.
Meralco’s interim distribution rates comprised of distribution, supply and metering charges, the only bill component paid to the company, has remained at P1.381 per kWh for the past 53 months.
Payment for the generation charge goes to the power suppliers, while payment for the transmission charge goes to the NGCP. Taxes and other public policy charges like the feed-in-tariff allowance are collected by government.
Of its total power requirements for the month, Meralco said 10 percent came from WESM, 38 percent from IPPs and 52 percent from power plants under PSAs.
