The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) said it has yet to secure a new emergency power supply agreement (EPSA) after the expiry of its 300 megawatts baseload capacity deal with Aboitiz Power’s GN Power Dinginin.
Lawrence Fernandez, Meralco vice president and h ead of utility economics department, said in a briefing last Friday Aboitiz Power did not offer to extend the EPSA which expired on February 25.
“GN Power Dinginin did not offer to extend the EPSA with Meralco. But Meralco sought offers from other suppliers and these have been submitted to the DOE (Department of Energy) for its consideration and approval,” Fernandez said.
However, Meralco did not identify the companies it approached for the EPSA application.
Meralco increased power rates in Metro Manila this March after last month’s reduction, mainly due to higher costs of power supply.
The P0.5453 per kWh upward rate adjustment brings overall power rates of Meralco to P11.4348 from last month’s P10.8895 per kWh.
It is equivalent to an increase of around P109 in the total bill of residential customers consuming 200 kWh monthly.
Meralco said generation charge went up by P0.4636 to P7.3790 from P6.9154 per kWh the previous month due to higher supply costs as natural gas fired power plants were forced to temporarily use costlier alternative fuels.
Charges from independent power producers (IPPs) also increased by P0.5784 per kWh due to lower plant dispatch and the peso depreciation which affected 98 percent of IPP costs that are dollar denominated.
Wholesale electricity spot market (WESM) charges were also higher by P1.4795 per kWh, resulting from increased demand in the Luzon grid, but charges from PSAs remained generally flat, largely due to the deferral of collection of a portion of PSA costs.
All other charges, including transmission charge and taxes, registered a net upward adjustment of P0.0817 per kWh, with the collection of the P0.0364 feed-in-tariff allowance still suspended until August this year.
Meralco reiterated that it only earns from distribution, supply and metering charges which went down by P0.0360 per kWh in August 2022.
The company said of the total power requirements for the month, WESM accounted for 22 percent; IPPs, 35 percent; and PSAs, 43 percent.
