Meralco rates set to increase for second consecutive month
By Alena Mae S. Flores – March 07, 2019 at 09:10 pm
from manilastandard.net
Power rates in the franchise area of Manila Electric Co. will increase for the second consecutive month on higher transmission charges and taxes.
Meralco said power rates will rise P0.0894 per kilowatt-hour in the March billing period, or equivalent to an increase of P18 in the monthly bill of a typical household consuming 200 kWh. This followed an upward adjustment of P0.5682 per kWh in February.
Meralco said the overall electricity rates slightly increased to P10.4961 per kWh in March from P10.4067 per kWh in February.
The power retailer said while generation charges were lower in March, transmission charges and taxes increased.
It said the lower charges from its power supply agreements brought down the generation charges in March to P5.5973 per kWh from P5.8939 per kWh in February.
“The generation charge decrease is primarily due to lower charges from plants under power supply agreements,” Meralco said.
Meralco attributed the P1.0768-per-kWh decrease in PSA charges this month to the strengthening of the peso against the US dollar, lower fuel prices and higher average plant dispatch.
Masinloc Unit 1 and San Gabriel returned to normal operations in February following the scheduled maintenance outage in January. Meralco sourced 48 percent of its power requirement from its PSAs.
Charges from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, the country’s trading floor of electricity, went up by P0.5178 per kWh because of the tighter supply conditions in Luzon.
Meralco said the cost of power from the independent power producers was also slightly higher by P0.0549 per kWh because of the lower average plant dispatch.
The Quezon Power Philippines Ltd. power plant was on scheduled maintenance outage on Jan. 18 to Feb. 8.
The WESM and IPPs provided 12 percent and 40 percent of Meralco’s supply needs, respectively.
Transmission charges of residential customers went up by P0.0288 per kWh in March, on higher ancillary service charges from the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines.
Taxes and other charges also increased by P0.3572 per kWh with the completion of the universal charge-stranded contract costs refund last month.
Meralco’s distribution, supply and metering charges were unchanged. Meralco said it was not earning from the pass-through charges, such as the generation and transmission charges.
Meanwhile, Meralco encouraged its customers to continue practicing energy efficiency initiatives to help manage their electricity consumption, especially during the dry months.
