Electricity rates up in August 2018

MANILA, Philippines — Customers of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) face an increase in electricity rates this month following a hike in generation charge.

Meralco said overall rates increased slightly by P0.0265 per kilowatt-hour from P10.1925 per kwh in July to P10.219 per kwh in August.

For a typical household consuming 200 kwh, this will mean an adjustment of around P5 in their total bill. Bills will increase by P8 for 300 kwh, P11 for 400 kwh and P13 for 500 kwh.

Meralco attributed the increase to the higher power supply agreements (PSA) charges, which pushed up the generation charge.

From P5.2651 per kwh last month, the generation charge for this month inched up to P5.3491 per kwh.

The increase is the result of P0.6554 per kwh rise in the cost of power from PSAs due to lower average plant dispatch and higher fuel prices.

Meralco sourced 43 percent of its total requirement from PSA purchases.

On the other hand, charges from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) decreased by P1.1021 per kwh with the absence of yellow alerts in the Luzon grid this month.

The power distributor also said the cost of power from Independent Power Producers (IPPs) decreased by P0.1690 per kwh due to an improvement in average plant dispatch.

The decrease comes despite higher Malampaya natural gas prices as a result of the quarterly repricing to reflect recent movement of crude oil prices in the world market.

“Power plants using Malampaya natural gas provided 58 percent of Meralco’s supply,” the power distributor said.

The shares of WESM and IPPs purchases to Meralco’s total requirement this month were 12 percent and 45 percent, respectively.

In terms of other bill components, transmission charge of residential customers decreased by P0.0803 per kwh due to lower NGCP ancillary service charges.

Meanwhile, taxes and other charges went up by P0.0228 per kwh this month.

Meralco’s distribution, supply and metering charges, meanwhile, have remained unchanged for 37 months, after these registered reductions in July 2015.