Manila Electric Co. is increasing power rates by P0.3136 per kilowatt-hour this month on higher generation charges.
Meralco said in a statement Friday a typical household consuming 200 kWh a month would see an increase of around P63 in the total bill.
Meralco said the higher electricity charges ended two consecutive months of reductions.
The power distributor attributed the higher July rate mainly due to the P0.2823 per kWh increase in generation charge.
Meralco’s overall rate now stands at P10.1925 per kWh for July from P9.8789 per kWh in June.
Generation charges rose to P5.2651 per kWh from P4.9828 per kWh in June due to the P0.3573 per kWh increase in the cost of power from Independent Power Producers arising from the peso depreciation and lower average plant dispatch.
Around 96 percent of IPP charges are dollar-denominated. Meralco secures 38 percent of its power requirement from the IPPs this month.
Charges from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, the country’s trading floor of electricity, also increased by P0.7039 per kWh due to higher WESM prices.
“As demand for power in the Luzon grid reached a record high of 10,876 megawatts in the June supply month, National Grid Corporation of the Philippines declared yellow alerts from May 29 to June 1 and on June 4 due to insufficient reserves. Tight supply conditions likewise persisted in the second half of the month with more generating capacity on outage,” Meralco said.
The company said the weakening of peso against the US dollar also resulted in a P0.1513 per kWh increase in the cost of electricity from its power supply agreements. Around 63 percent of PSA charges are dollar-denominated.
Meralco purchased 13 percent of electricity supply from the WESM and 49 percent from its PSAs this month.
Transmission charge to residential customers was stable, while taxes and other charges rose P0.0309 per kWh this month as a result of the higher generation charge.
Meralco reiterated its distribution, supply, and metering charges had remained unchanged for 36 months, after they registered reductions in July 2015.