Meralco rates slightly up this month

MANILA, Philippines — Power distributor Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is increasing its electricity rates by P0.0327 per kilowatt-hour this month, bringing the overall rate to P11.6339 per kWh in August from last month’s P11.6012 per kWh.

The slight adjustment, caused by higher transmission charges, is equivalent to an increase of around P7 in the electricity bills of typical households consuming 200 kWh a month.

“This is due to higher charges by the grid operator for what is known as ancillary services,” Meralco vice president Joe Zaldarriaga said yesterday.

Ancillary service costs, or fees charged to maintain the power grid’s reliability, surged by over 50 percent this month as charges for contingency and dispatchable reserves doubled.

This resulted in an increase in the transmission charge for residential customers.

“The increase in the transmission charge has offset the five centavo (per kWh) reduction in the generation charge,” Zaldarriaga noted.

Charges from independent power producers went down by P0.2974 per kWh amid higher dispatch and a stronger peso that affected about 97 percent of US dollar-denominated IPP costs.

The Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) prices were also lower due to the 690-megawatt decline in the average peak demand on the Luzon grid.

The effective WESM charges for the month, however, rose by P0.5940 per kWh following the addition of the third of four installments of deferred WESM costs in May ordered by the Energy Regulatory Commission.