Lower power rates seen in February

MANILA, Philippines — There is a “strong likelihood of a decrease” in power rates in February, according to the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco).

“With Luzon peak demand in January increasing compared to December 2020, this swing in demand means that the fixed costs from power suppliers may be spread over higher energy volume resulting in lower effective rates to consumers, compared to last month. Given this, charges from PSAs also are projected to decrease,” Meralco vice president for corporate communications and spokesperson Joe Zaldarriaga said in a statement.

This month, Meralco said its overall electricity rates increased by P0.2744 per kilowatt-hour from last month’s P8.4753 per kwh to P8.7497 per kwh.

Despite the increase, the January rate is still lower compared with the figure in the same month last year because of power rate reductions totaling a P1.39 per kwh for the entire 2020.

“Do also note that the net overall power rate decrease since the start of 2020 is at more than P1 per kilowatt-hour, with the further projected decrease in the overall power rate of February 2021 continuing this downward trend,” Zaldarriaga said.

“Given all this, our Meralco rates are at the lowest levels in three years and may possibly continue to go down in the coming months,” he said.

Meralco announces month rate adjustment within the first two weeks of every month.

“Currently, we are still awaiting all the final billings from the various power suppliers, but the target for the rates announcement is sometime early February,” Zaldarriaga said.