Power rate hike in store for Meralco customers in August
MANILA, Philippines – Higher power bills await customers of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) at a time several areas are under hard lockdowns this month, no thanks to higher transmission and generation charges.
In a statement on Monday, the country’s largest power distributor said the overall rate went up by P0.0965 per kWh in August, translating to an increase of P19 in the total bill of a typical household with an average monthly consumption of 200 kWh.
Meralco said the adjustment would have been higher if not for an ongoing P13.9-billion “distribution rate true-up” refund that started last March and will be implemented over a period of 24 months.
“This month’s rate is still lower than the pre-pandemic rate—when it settled at P9.5674 in August 2019 and P10.2190 in August 2018—proof that the series of competitive biddings by MERALCO resulted in lower electricity charges,” the company said.
In August, transmission charges — which refer to the regulated cost or charges for the use of a transmission system — grew by P0.7323 per kWh for residential customers because of “higher ancillary service charges” that Meralco paid to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).
Generation charge, meanwhile, inched up slightly by P0.0615 per kWh this month. Broken down, energy prices from power supply agreements and the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) went down P0.0347 and P2.6903 per kWh, respectively, due to better supply conditions and lower demand amid cooler temperature.
But Meralco said it paid more to independent power producers (IPPS), where it got 40.8% of its energy needs in August. IPP raised charges by P0.7389 per kWh as the peso’s weakness makes oil imports more expensive, while natural gas from Malampaya becomes more costly following a quarterly repricing.
As it is, the rate hike would come at a difficult time for some Meralco customers in areas under strict lockdown. Metro Manila would be under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) from August 6 to 20 to arrest the spread of Delta variant. Laguna is under ECQ from August 6 to 15 while the same community quarantine level is imposed in Bataan from August 8 to 22.
However, the power utility firm said it won’t cut the power lines of consumers who miss payment deadlines in areas under ECQ and less strict modified ECQ to help ease the burden of its locked-down customers. Elsewhere, Meralco said it is offering installment payment terms to customers with unpaid bills.
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