POWER rates in areas covered by the franchise of the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) are up this month due to higher generation and transmission charges.
Meralco in a statement Tuesday said November rates will go up P0.4274 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), bringing the overall rate for a typical household to P11.8569 per kWh from the previous month’s P11.4295 per kWh.
For residential customers consuming 200 kWh, the adjustment is equivalent to an increase of around P85 in their total electricity bill this month, Meralco said.
Generation charge recorded an overall rate increase of P0.2884 per kWh in November
Charges from the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and Power Supply Agreements (PSAs) went up by P0.9392 and P0.4295 per kWh, respectively, largely due to the depreciation of the peso.
The peso weakened by P2 vis-à-vis the US dollar, affecting 98 percent of IPP costs and 49 percent of PSA costs that were dollar denominated.
Meralco said payments for liquefied natural gas terminal fees of First Gas Sta. Rita and San Lorenzo plants contributed to the higher IPP charges.
Charges from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) inched up by P0.0150 per kWh. Average demand in the Luzon grid was higher by about 198 MW while average capacity on outage also increased by 179 MW.
IPPs, PSAs, and WESM accounted for 24 percent, 47 percent, and 29 percent, respectively, of Meralco’s total energy requirement for the period.
Also contributing to the overall increase in the electricity rate this month was the P0.0724 per kWh increase in the transmission charge due to higher ancillary service charges from the WESM Reserve Market.
Meralco’s distribution charge has not moved since the P0.0360 per kWh reduction for a typical residential customer in August 2022.