Meralco power rates to go up this February

MANILA, Philippines — Customers of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) will see an increase in electricity bills this month due to higher spot market prices and as capacity fees from power generators start to normalize.

Meralco said there would be a P0.5682 per kilowatt-hour increase in overall electricity rates from P9.8385 to P10.4067 per kwh this month.

The adjustment translates to an additional P113.63 hike in the total bill of a typical household consuming 200 kwh.

This month’s generation charge went up by P0.9820 per kwh, from P4.9119 per kwh to P5.8939 per kwh.

Meralco attributed this primarily to higher charges from plants under Power Supply Agreements (PSA) and the wholesale electricity spot market (WESM).

After the reduction in PSA charges in January due to the early completion of annual capacity fee payments for the previous year, it said capacity fees this month returned to levels prescribed in the PSAs approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).

“The return to normal levels of capacity fees, particularly of Sual Unit 1, Ilijan, Pagbilao Unit 1 and PEDC, was the main reason for the P1.9217 per kwh increase in PSA charges this February,” Meralco said.

The share of PSAs to Meralco’s total requirement this month was at 37 percent.

Meanwhile, WESM charge went up by P1.4141 per kwh due to tighter supply conditions in Luzon as several large power plants went on scheduled maintenance outage this month.

On the other hand, the cost of power from the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) was slightly lower by P0.0042 per kwh due to strengthening of the peso against the US dollar.

Meralco said about 96 percent of IPP charges are dollar-denominated. 

WESM and IPPs provided 18 percent and 45 percent of Meralco’s supply needs, respectively.

Other bill charges, meanwhile, saw a decrease for the month. Transmission charge of residential customers, taxes and other charges went down by P0.4138 per kwh this month.

Meralco’s distribution, supply and metering charges, meanwhile, have remained unchanged for 43 months, after these registered reductions in July 2015.