Power users to enjoy lower rates in June, says Meralco
By Alena Mae S. Flores – June 07, 2018 at 07:10 pm
from Business Mirror
Customers of Manila Electric Co. will enjoy lower power rates in June amounting to P0.1252 per kilowatt-hour, as generation and transmission charges declined.
Meralco said in a statement that generation and transmission charges dropped P0.1556 per kilowatt-hour, which more than offset the P0.0733-per-kWh increase in the feed-in tariff allowance or FIT-All, the fund used to pay renewable energy developers.
This is the second consecutive month that overall rates decreased for Meralco’s more than six million customers.
“The adjustment this month brings down the overall rate to P9.8789 per kWh from May’s P10.0041 per kWh, equivalent to a decrease of around P25 in the bill of a residential customer consuming 200 kWh,” Meralco said.
The country’s biggest power retailer said the generation charge went down to P4.9828 per kWh from P5.0523 per kWh in May.
Meralco said this was a result of the P0.4420-per-kWh decrease in the cost of power from its power supply agreements amid the higher dispatch of Pagbilao Unit 1 and Ilijan Unit 1 which both returned to normal operations after undergoing scheduled maintenance.
Meralco purchased 45 percent of its power supply from its PSAs.
Charges from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, the country’s trading floor of electricity and Meralco’s independent power producers increased by P0.1954 per kWh and P0.2266 per kWh, respectively.
“As demand for power in the Luzon grid grew by about 239 MW, charges from the WESM increased due to higher effective rates of line rentals. Higher IPP charges, on the other hand, were driven by the weakening of the peso against the US dollar,” Meralco said.
Around 96 percent of IPP charges were dollar-denominated.
Meralco purchased 40 percent of its supply requirement from the IPPs and 15 percent from the WESM.
Transmission charge declined P0.0861 per kWh on lower power delivery and ancillary service charges from the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines.
“With the lower generation and transmission charges, taxes and other charges also went down by PhP0.0429 per kWh this month,” Meralco said.
The FIT-All rate was increased in June to P0.2563 per kWh, after the Energy Regulatory Commission recently approved an increase of P0.0733 per kWh from the previous rate.
The FIT-All is a pass-through charge remitted to the National Transmission Corp. (as an incentive for renewable energy developers, such as those operating wind, solar, biomass and run-of-river hydropower facilities as mandated by the Renewable Energy Law.
Meralco said distribution, supply and metering charges remained unchanged for 35 months.
