Meralco rates going up in April billing

By Myrna M. Velasco – April 5, 2019, 10:00 PM
from Manila Bulletin

With several incidents of yellow alerts in March indicating supply tightness in the grid, the power rates to be billed by Manila Electric Company (Meralco) will increase in this April billing.

In a statement, Meralco noted that the generation charge component in the rates in particular had gone higher due to the reserve-deficient situation in the grid, which consequently triggered spot prices to go up in the last supply month.

At the same time, the Philippine peso depreciation against the US dollar contributed to the factor that increased the electricity tariffs in this billing cycle, according to Meralco spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga.

No figures have been provided by Meralco yet as of press time, with the utility firm noting that calculations are still being finalized from the billings sent by their power suppliers and reckoning it also with the other cost components like the transmission charge and taxes.

It has to be noted that in March, about four incidents of yellow alerts had strained the power system due to the unplanned outages and de-rating of roughly 10 generating units. De-rating means a plant’s level of electricity generation cannot go to the usual optimized level.

And the yellow alert situations are seen persisting this month, with Luzon grid tormented with five days of reserve scant situation from April 1 to 5 already.