The National Association of Electricity Consumers for Reforms Inc. (Nasecore) has asked the Office of the President to take action on what it called as an “anomalous situation” created by the decision of the Energy Regulatory Commission denying a joint request for a temporary rate hike of San Miguel Corp. (SMC) and Manila Electric Co. (Meralco).
In a letter to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. dated October 10, Nasecore president Pete Ilagan said ERC’s decision did not apply the “least cost” principle under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001.
Ilagan said the ERC denied SMC and Meralco’s request that will only result in a slight increase in generation charges from P4.05 per kilowatt hour (kWh) to P5.41 per kWh but “tolerated the higher generation rate of the other Meralco suppliers and the runaway generation charges of most electric cooperatives.”
Ilagan added
SMC’s South Premiere Power Corp. (SPPC) and San Miguel Energy Corp. (SMEC), despite the requested temporary rate hike, are only among the few suppliers of Meralco which do not have an automatic price adjustment or escalation that is passed on to customers.
“If the consumers can be afforded reliefs on the proposed price adjustments, public interest dictate that these other suppliers taking advantage of the pass-thru provision must be reined in as well by the ERC,” Ilagan said in his letter.
Nasecore also said based on the September 2022 supply month, SMEC and SPPC are the second and third Meralco suppliers with the least cost at P3.74 per kWh and P4.27 per kWh, respectively.
Ilagan said for the similar period, Meralco’s most expensive supplier was a coal-fired power plant with rates of P13.34 per kWh.
Ilagan said the ERC must also look into the reported generation rates of electric cooperatives in Leyte and Samar which have gone up in September 2022 to P12.86 per kWh and P9.84 per kWh, respectively.
Nasecore said Meralco’s blended generation rates for the similar period are lower at only P6.93 per kWh. -Jed Macapagal
