Consumers of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) will pay for higher electricity rates of P0.5738 per kilowatt hour in February due to higher cost of power from its suppliers.
The latest rate increase will bring the overall rate for a typical household to P11.9168 per kWh this month from P11.3430 per kWh in January.
Residential customers consuming an average of 200 kWh, will see an increase of around P115 in their total electricity bill.
Meralco said driving this month’s overall rate increase is the generation charge, which went up by P0.4552 to P7.1020 per kWh from P6.6468 per kWh last month.
It said Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and Power Supply Agreements (PSAs) also increased their fees.
Meralco’s IPPs hiked charges by P1.4764 per kWh due to higher fuel costs of First Gas – Sta. Rita and San Lorenzo power plants.
This was mainly due to the increased use of imported liquefied naturalgas (LNG), which was around 35 percent to 40 percent more expensive than Malampaya gas.
The power retailer sourced 32.8 percent and 46.8 percent from its IPPs and PSAs of its total energy requirement.
Meanwhile, the increases in IPP and PSA charges were tempered by the P0.4071 per kWh decrease in charges from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), the electricity spot market, due to improved supply situation in the Luzon grid.
Meralco’s distribution charge, on the other hand, has not moved since the P0.0360 per kWh reduction for a typical residential customer beginning August 2022.
Meanwhile, Sen Grace Poe on Thursday said a rotational brownout is not a solution to the reduction of the power produced by power plants Palm Concepcion Power Corporation (PCPC).
“NGCP’s resort to rotational brownout is not solving the problem,” said Poe.
While this may prevent another domino effect of plant tripping and eventual collapse of the grid, Poe said we need a more proactive stance from our sole power transmission operator.
“We reiterate our call for NGCP to expedite the completion of the Cebu-Panay-Negros project and all other power transmission projects,” she said.
“Delay is a denial of public service,” added the chairperson of the Senate committee on public services.
PCPC’s failure to conduct plant maintenance as scheduled in August 2023 had a negative effect not only to its operations but to the entire power supply in Panay.
Poe said the Energy Regulatory Commission should also look into NGCP’s limited visitational powers. She said this effectively prevents proper monitoring of the plants.
“A responsible power transmission operator should pursue long-term
solutions and not knee-jerk responses,” she said. With Macon Ramos-Araneta
