Meralco rates up this month

MANILA, Philippines - Electricity rates will go up by 10 centavos per kilowatt-hour this month, according to the latest advisory of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the country’s biggest power distributor.

“For a typical household consuming 200 kwh, this month’s adjustment is equivalent to an increase of around P20 in the bill for October. The upward adjustment is attributed principally to the upward movement in the generation charge,” Meralco said in an advisory.

The generation charge is the biggest component of consumers’ electricity bills, which accounts for roughly 60 percent of total power cost.

The five-day gas restriction at the deep-water-to-gas Malampaya natural gas field contributed to the increase.

“This month’s increase was primarily due to the five-day Malampaya restriction (Sept.8 to 11 and Sept. 21 to 23), which forced the Sta. Rita and San Lorenzo power plants to use more expensive liquid fuel in lieu of natural gas. This resulted in higher generation costs from these plants,” Meralco said.

Thus, the generation charge that had decreased by 44 centavos per kwh in September, went up by 15.9 centavos per kwh from September’s P5.19 per kwh level to P5.35 per kwh, Meralco said.

The Malampaya restriction also reduced dispatch of the Ilijan power plant during the September supply month.

The use of alternative fuel by the natural gas plants accounted for 13 centavos per kwh of the increase in the generation charge, while the higher foreign exchange rate added another 8 centavos per kwh, Meralco said.

Independent power producers (IPPs) registered a 44-centavo per kwh average increase.

On the other hand, plants under the Power Supply Agreements (PSAs), as a whole, went down by 1 centavo per kwh.

The Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) likewise registered a reduction of P7.45 per kwh, Meralco also said as it noted that the presence of the secondary WESM price cap in the market has helped moderate WESM charges and protected customers in spite of the successive restrictions of Malampaya that limited the output of Ilijan and the outage of some power plants.