Meralco says power rates may rise in January despite reduced demand

By Alena Mae S. Flores – January 05, 2021 at 08:05 pm
from manilastandard.net

Power rates in the franchise area of Manila Electric Co. may increase in January despite the lower demand, a company executive said Tuesday.

Meralco spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga said the company was still awaiting the final billings from the several power suppliers but “initial data suggests that generation costs for January may have a possibility of an increase due to lower demand in the Luzon grid,” which means the fixed costs from some suppliers may be spread over lower energy volume.

He said Luzon peak demand in December decreased 252 megawatts to 9,634 MW from 9,886 MW in November.

“This means that the fixed costs from power suppliers may be spread over lower energy volume resulting in higher effective rates to consumers,” he said.

Zaldarriaga said despite the potential increase in January, the overall power rate drop since the start of 2020 reached P1.39 per kilowatt-hour, or equivalent to savings of about P278 for residential customers that consume an average of 200 kWh in 2020.

Meralco’s overall rate for a typical household fell P0.0352 per kilowatt-hour in December to P8.4753 per kWh from P8.5105 per kWh in November.

Generation charges decreased P0.0502 per kWh to P4.1516 per kWh in December from P4.2018 per kWh in November. All sources of supply registered lower charges last month.

Charges at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, the country’s trading floor of electricity, noted a P0.1881 per kWh reduction in charges following an improved power supply situation.

The cost of power from independent power producers also declined P0.2577 per kWh on improved average plant dispatch and peso appreciation.

Charges from power supply agreements declined P0.0214 per kWh with the strengthening of peso against the US dollar.

The WESM, IPPs and PSAs accounted for 9 percent, 39 percent and 52 percent of Meralco’s energy requirements, respectively.