Meralco power bills to fall slightly in February

MANILA, Philippines — Consumers and businesses in areas served by Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) will see slightly lower power bills in February on the back of cheaper supply.

For a typical household consuming 200 kilowatt per hour (kWh) every month, power rates will go down by P0.0704 per kWh per kilowatt hour this month, the country’s largest power distributor said in a statement on Monday.

The adjustment means typical residential customers will save “around P14” after generators where Meralco sources most of its power likewise lowered down their selling prices. That brought February’s generation charge to P4.4152 per kWh, P0.0422 lower than the preceding month when prices rose.
 
Cheaper electricity would be good news for Meralco customers still struggling to settle their bills after the coronavirus pandemic threw the economy into recession. On top of lower charges, Joe Zaldarriaga, Meralco vice-president and communications head, said the utility firm would also further hold off from disconnecting unpaid lines until March 31, following President Rodrigo Duterte’s order. 

The order, formalized by the energy department over the weekend, will cover unsettled dues of so-called “lifeline customers” consuming 100 kWh or less in a month. “We will comply with the government’s directive,” Zaldarriaga said in a Viber message. 

“We would like to assure our customers that we will continue to assist all of them in addressing their billing issues,” he added.

Beyond 100 kWh however, Meralco already resumed sending out disconnection notices to clients behind their payments after around 9 months of moratorium in doing so when the health crisis struck and ushered in widespread lockdowns that prompted power consumption to spike, and meter readings to get delayed. The reprieve ended last year upon the expiration of the broader Bayanihan to Recover As One Act. 

That said, while most payment suspensions had already been lifted, power rates from power supply agreements where Meralco sources the bulk of its energy requirements have gone down this month. 

Apart from this, a government order to refund P1.4-billion worth of excess collections to customers would also pull down overall February bills. The refund, amounting to around P0.1150 per kWh, was started to be disbursed in January and would continue until next month.

Transmission charges likewise went down by P0.0128 per kWh, while taxes and other charges also registered a net decrease of P0.0154 per kWh. Collection of universal charges also remained suspended by regulators, thereby lowering overall power rates. 

All these decreases far offset an increase prices for power sold at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, the energy trading platform, where rates rose P0.9577 per kWh due to “higher average plant capacity on outage in the Luzon grid.” 

Independent power producers were also charging Meralco more, up P0.2103 per kWh because of “lower average plant dispatch, higher Malampaya natural gas prices due to the quarterly repricing and peso depreciation.”

Shares at Meralco closed down 0.88% to P291.20 each at the start of the trading week on Monday.