Meralco power bills to fall in November
MANILA, Philippines — After a brief uptick in power costs this month, customers of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) will see charges slightly go down in November on the back of sufficient supply.
For a typical household consuming 200 kilowatt per hour (kWh), the adjustment will be equivalent to “a decrease of around P8” in their November bill, the country’s largest power distributor announced in a statement on Tuesday.
Just early this month, Meralco hiked electricity costs by up to P24 for 200 kWh consumers for October due to tight supply resulting from power plant shutdowns that happened while demand was up from customers staying at home during the pandemic.
That has since changed, Meralco said, after “demand decreased due to weather disturbances” in the preceding month that nonetheless toppled power lines and left thousands without power. This, in turn, resulted into “less generation capacity” during outages.
Overall, Meralco rates for a common household would decrease by P0.0395 per kWh to P8.5105 per kWh next month. Broken down, generation charges will amount to P4.2018 per kWh, a reduction of P0.0215 per kWh.
In addition to lower demand, Meralco was also paying less for its electricity from generators. Electricity prices from Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, which serves as a venue for trading power, dropped P1.28 per kWh. Independent power producers, meanwhile, were also charging less to Meralco, down P0.0842 per kWh.
Electricity got cheaper because of discounts from those sourced from Malampaya natural gas plant off Palawan, which accounts for over 60% of Luzon’s energy. The peso’s appreciation that pulled down import prices also helped.
Price declines in WESM and IPPs offset slightly higher costs from power supply agreements between Meralco and generators, which inched up P0.2118 per kWh. These agreements accounted for 53% of Meralco’s power sold to consumers, while those from WESM and IPPs were equivalent to 12% and 35%, respectively.
Beyond generation, Meralco said power transmission charge, taxes, and other charges for residential customers also registered a net reduction of P0.0180 per kWh. Collection of universal charges also remained suspended by regulators.
On average, the Pangilinan-led company said the price of electricity it sold customers had gone down P1.35 per kWh since the start of the year. There were 8 months of decline that offset 4 months of uptick in prices.
Cheaper power may give some customers suffering joblessness over months of getting stuck at home some ability to pay. That said, Meralco assured consumers of 200 kWh that no lines will be cut until yearend, following regulatory rules, but at the same time appealed to people who can settle to do so on time.
For customers consuming above that level, the 30-day grace period on bill payments provided under Republic Act 11494 will be followed, although at this time, this may have already been exhausted since the law was passed last September. At which case, overdue balance may be paid on a staggered basis for 3 months thereafter.
“Meralco also encourages customers who have the ability to pay to settle their bills within the original due date to help manage the cash flow in the energy supply chain and ensure the continuous supply of electricity,” the company said.
Shares at Meralco closed up 4.26% to P313 apiece on Monday.
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