MANILA, Philippines - Electricity rates will go up by roughly P62 this month for the average residential customer with a 200-kilowatt-hour consumption on the back of higher generation and universal charges as well as taxes on power, Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the country’s biggest power distributor said yesterday.
This followed an increase of 31 centavos per kwh in electricity bills for August after a cumulative reduction in rates of 86 centavos per kwh since May.
Meralco said the slight reduction in transmission charge and the flat rate for the distribution charge were not enough to keep the August electricity rates from going up.
In all, the generation charge for August went up by 23 centavos per kwh to P5.64 per kwh from P5.41 per kwh, pushed by billing adjustments for the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), the country’s trading for electricity, and an increase of six centavos per kwh in the average cost of contracted power supply sourced from power supply agreements (PSAs).
The universal charge – a separate line in consumers’ electricity bills and which accounts for roughly three percent and used for subsidizing power in far-flung areas – rose by four centavos per kwh as collection for the previously deferred universal charge for missionary electrification resumed starting this month.
Taxes and subsidies, meanwhile, registered increases of two centavos per kwh and three centavos per kwh, respectively.
On the other hand, transmission charge went down by one centavo per kwh due to the lower ancillary charges.
In its August billing advisory, Meralco said the shortfall in power supply due to forced and scheduled outages of various plants and Typhoon Glenda aggravated the tight power situation and pushed prices higher.
“The damage caused by the typhoon to some transmission and generating facilities limited the output of a number of power plants located in Southern Luzon. This led to the lower dispatch of the affected plants,” Meralco said.
For the August billing month, the number of power plant units that pushed through with their scheduled outages include Pagbilao 1 in Quezon and Ilijan 1 and 2 in Batangas.
During the onslaught of Glenda last July, several power plant units had to go offline. These are the Sta. Rita Units 10, 20 and 30 in Batangas, Calaca 1 and 2 in Batangas, GN Power 1 and 2 in Bataan, Sual 1 and 2 in Pangasinan, Ilijan 1 and 2 in Batangas, Pagbilao 1 and 2 in Quezon, Masinloc 1 and 2 in Pangasinan, San Lorenzo Units 50 and 60 in Batangas and Quezon Power in Quezon.
Meralco sources its power for the month from PSAs, independent power producers and WESM, with a share of 53 percent, 40 percent, and seven percent, respectively.
Meralco reiterated that it does not earn from the pass-through charges, such as generation and transmission charges.