MANILA, Philippines — After three straight months of hikes, customers served by the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) will see a slight reduction of P0.0151 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in their May power bills.
The adjustment, which brings the overall rate down to P14.3345 per kWh this month, was attributed to higher refunds and lower taxes and transmission charges that offset the increase in generation costs.
Although power prices were initially projected to rise due to the ongoing global oil crisis, Meralco spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga told reporters yesterday that several mitigating measures helped buck the trend.
These include the accelerated implementation of Meralco’s ongoing refund, which raised the refund rate for residential customers to P0.4278 per kWh from the original P0.2024 per kWh.
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has also suspended the collection of green energy auction allowance (GEA-All) for this month and next to help ease the pressure on electricity bills.
The GEA-All rate, equivalent to P0.0371 per kWh, supports the development of renewable energy projects in the country such as hydropower, biomass, solar and wind facilities.
But the biggest impact on this month’s power bills came from Meralco’s earlier implementation of the line rental cap under its ERC-approved power supply agreements.
As a result, Meralco’s suppliers shouldered a substantial portion of the line rental charges or fees imposed for using the power grid to deliver electricity. The move prevents consumers from bearing the full cost.
With the cap in place, the increase in generation charges – the cost of power procured by Meralco from suppliers – was trimmed to about P0.41 per kWh from an initial projection of over P1 per kWh.
“Meralco consumers saved P2 billion, which was absorbed by Meralco’s power suppliers,” Meralco utility economics head Larry Fernandez said.
Also contributing to this month’s rate reduction were lower transmission charges, which went down by P0.0493 per kWh for residential customers.