December power rates decline on peso recovery

By Alena Mae S. Flores – December 07, 2017 at 08:50 pm
from Alena Mae S. Flores

Electricity rates declined P0.3785 per kilowatt-hour in December, on lower generation charges amid a stronger peso and softer prices at the spot market.

Meralco said a typical household’s overall rate would go down to P9.2487 per kWh from last month’s P9.6272 per kWh.  This would translated into a reduction of around P76 in the December bill of a customer consuming 200 kWh.

“The lower December rate is mainly due to a P0.3035 per kWh reduction in the generation charge,” Meralco said in a statement.

Meralco said the generation charge went down to P4.6045 per kWh in December from P4.9080 per kWh in November because of the peso’s appreciation against other currencies and the lower Wholesale Electricity Spot Market charges.

Charges from the WESM went down by P0.4658 per kWh despite a slight increase in the demand for power in Luzon.

Meralco said power supply situation improved from October, when the grid experienced three instances of yellow alerts due to thin reserves. Meralco sourced 12 percent of its power requirements from the WESM in December.

Charges from independent power producers and power supply agreements also registered declines of P0.2191 per kWh and P0.3244 per kWh, respectively, mainly due to the strengthening of the peso against the US dollar.

Meralco said the peso-dollar exchange rate affected around 97 percent of IPP and 60 percent of PSA charges. Meralco sourced an equal 44 percent of its requirements from  IPPs and PSAs.

Transmission charges of residential customers also decreased P0.0186 per kWh on lower transmission wheeling and ancillary charges. Taxes and other charges also went down by P0.0564 per kWh this month.

Meralco’s distribution, supply and metering charges were unchanged for the 29th months.