MANILA, Philippines — The Manila Electric Company (Meralco) will slash power rates in April, ending three consecutive months of rate hikes since the first quarter of 2024.
In a statement, the electricity concessionaire said that it would reduce its power rates by P0.9879, pulling down the overall electricity rate of a household to P10.9518 per kilo-Watt hour (kWh) from last month’s P11.9397 per kWh.
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This means that the overall rate of a household consuming 200 kWh will have a decrease of P198 of their total electricity bill.
The significant decrease in the total electricity rate for this month has offset rate increases since January 2024, resulting in a year-to-date adjustment of a net decrease of P0.3066 per kWh, according to Meralco.
The electricity concessionaire attributed the price decrease to the reduction of the generation charge of Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and Power Supply Agreements (PSAs).
Due to lower costs from First Gas plants, charges from IPPs decreased by P1.0701 per kWh.
This reduction was primarily caused by Sta. Rita and San Lorenzo's non-use of liquefied natural gas and the ongoing withholding of incremental Malampaya gas costs for First Gas-Sta. Rita under its new Gas Sale and Purchase Agreement.
Meanwhile, charges from PSAs decreased by P0.5733 per kWh, primarily due to lower fuel costs of South Premier Power Corp. under the emergency PSAs with Meralco, as well as San Buenaventura Power Ltd, according to Meralco.
Meralco said that IPPs and PSA’s reduction of generation charge counteracted the markup of the charges of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market which increased by P1.0114 per kWh due to tighter supply conditions in the Luzon grid.