Electricity bills may go up this month – Meralco

MANILA, Philippines - Instances of tight supply and restrictions from the Malampaya natural gas field in offshore Palawan could jack up electricity rates this month, a Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) official said.

“There were several instances of yellow alerts in the supply month of July which may impact in August bills,” Meralco spokesperson Joe Zaldarriaga told reporters via text.

A yellow alert means reserves are below the minimum level set by the regulator. In the Luzon grid, the minimum reserve is pegged at 647 megawatts (MW) or the size of the Sual power plant in Pangasinan.

The Luzon grid may have been placed under yellow alert due to supply restrictions from Malampaya.

“We also noted supply restrictions from Malampaya which may have prompted the plants obtaining supply from it to resort to utilizing liquid fuel,” Zaldarriaga added.

Meralco sources 40-60 percent of its supply from power plants that derive fuel from the Malampaya natural gas field.

The gas field supplies power to three natural gas-fired power plants in Luzon which accounts for 40 percent of the island’s power requirements.

These plants are Lopez-owned First Gas’ 1,000-MW Sta. Rita and 500-MW San Lorenzo plants and Kepco Philippines’ 1,200-MW Ilijan plant, all in Batangas.

However, Zaldarriaga did not give estimates of the impact on electricity rates as Meralco has yet to receive billings from power suppliers.

“We, however, need to wait for all the billings from our suppliers to have an actual view of rates for August,” he said.

For the month of July, consumers had a 2.25 centavos per kilowatt-hour (kwh) reduction in their electricity bills, contrary to an expected hike in rates, as the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) granted Meralco’s application for lower distribution charge that offset higher generation charge.

July bills went down P4.50 for a typical household consuming 200 kwh, P19 for those consuming 300 kwh, P42 for 400 kwh and P89 for 500 kwh.

Meralco, the country’s largest power distributor, covers 5.68 million customers in Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite and Rizal, as well as in certain areas in the provinces of Batangas, Laguna, Pampanga and Quezon.