Meralco says electricity rates to fall P0.34 per kWh in January
By Alena Mae S. Flores – January 08, 2019 at 07:45 pm
from manilastandard.net
Electricity rates will decline P0.3418 per kilowatt-hour in January on lower cost of power generation, according to Manila Electric Co.
Meralco said the rate would translate into a reduction of P68 in monthly bill of a typical household consuming 200 kWh.
Meralco said in a statement the overall January rates would decrease to P9.8385 per kWh from P10.1803 per kWh in December.
Generation charges for January dropped P0.4184 per kWh to P4.9119 per kWh from P5.3303 per kWh in December, as a result of lower charges from power supply agreements.
The power retailer said the decrease in generation charge was a result of a P1.2293-per-kWh decline in the cost of power from PSAs. Meralco sourced 40 percent of its power requirements from PSAs.
“Lower PSA charges were brought about by a reduction in capacity fees as a result of the annual reconciliation of outage allowances done at the end of each year under the PSAs approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission,” Meralco public information office head Joe Zaldarriaga said.
“The early completion of annual capacity payment for Sual Unit 1, Ilijan, Pagbilao Unit 1 and Panay Energy Development Corp. resulted in savings immediately passed on to consumers by way of lower electricity rates. The capacity fees of PSAs will return to normal levels in January that will impact on February bills after the downward adjustment in December,” he said.
Meralco said charges from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, the country’s trading floor of electricity, also declined P0.0165 per kWh with the improvement in Luzon power situation.
Demand for power in the Luzon grid decreased by 101 MW in December.
The cost of power from independent power producers went up by P0.0847 per kWh because of the peso depreciation, as about 92 percent of IPP charges were dollar-denominated.
Meralco sourced 18 percent and 42 percent from WESM and IPPs, respectively.
Transmission charges of residential customers increased by P0.1210 per kWh this month on higher ancillary service charges from the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines.
Taxes and other charges went down by P0.0444 per kWh this month. Meralco said distribution, supply and metering charges had been unchanged for 42 months.
Meralco said it was not earning from the pass-through charges, such as the generation and transmission charges. Payment for the generation charge goes to the power suppliers, while payment for the transmission charge goes to transmission operator NGCP.
Meralco encouraged customers to continue practicing energy efficiency initiatives to help manage their electricity consumption.
