Meralco power rates slightly up this month

MANILA, Philippines — Rates of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) are up slightly at the start of 2024.

Meralco, the largest electric power distribution company in the country, said overall electricity rate for a typical household this January is higher by P0.0846 per kilowatt-hour, to P11.3430 per kwh from last month’s P11.2584 per kwh.

The upward adjustment is equivalent to an increase of around P17 in the total electricity bill of residential customers consuming 200 kwh, P25 for those consuming 300 kwh, P33 for 400 kwh and P39 for 500 kwh.

Meralco attributed this month’s overall rate increase to higher generation charge, which went up by P0.1136 to P6.6468 per kwh from P6.5332 per kwh in December as a result of higher cost of power from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) and independent power producers (IPP).

Charges from WESM saw a P0.5611 per kwh hike due to higher average capacity on outage in the Luzon grid, while IPP charges increased by P0.1384 per kwh on the back of higher fuel costs of First Gas-Sta. Rita and San Lorenzo resulting from the use of imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the testing and commissioning of its LNG terminal.

Meralco said tempering the increase was a P0.1522 per kwh reduction in charges from power supply agreements (PSAs) with the lower charges from emergency PSAs and higher excess energy deliveries from some PSAs, which were priced at a discount.

Share of PSAs for Meralco’s total energy requirement for the December supply month was at 43 percent, while WESM and IPPs accounted for 20.5 percent and 36.5 percent, respectively.

Transmission and other charges, meanwhile, registered a net reduction of P0.0290 per kwh.

Pass-through charges for generation and transmission are paid by Meralco to the power suppliers and the grid operator, respectively, while taxes and universal charges are all remitted to the government.

The collection of the feed-in tariff allowance, at the rate of P0.0364 per kwh, remains suspended as directed by the Energy Regulatory Commission

Meralco’s distribution charge, on the other hand, has not moved since the P0.0360 per kwh reduction for a typical residential customer beginning in August 2022.