Consumers face higher oil prices this week, but if it is any consolation, the Manila Electric Co. is seeking guidance from the Energy Regulatory Commission on a minimal rollback arising from concerns raised over the March rates. Unioil Petroleum Philippines said in its advisory over the weekend that oil prices are set to go up by Tuesday to reflect the movement of prices in the world oil market.
Unioil said diesel will go up by P0.90 to P1.10 per liter and gasoline by P1.20 to P1.40 per liter. The impending oil price hike is seen to wipe out last week’s rollback of P0.60 for gasoline and P0.10 for diesel.
Department of Energy (DOE) director for the oil industry management bureau Rodela Romero attributed the latest price hikes to several developments abroad.
These include the intensified Middle East conflict at the Lebanese border, the surge in US crude stockpiles, shipping disruption in the Red Sea and Suez Canal, and the forecast of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries of strong demand for 2024.
Meanwhile, Meralco has expressed willingness to refund the pass-on costs from the natural gas plants, following the pronouncement of ERC chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta that the rates were premature.
Meralco’s initial estimate of the refund is about P0.04 to P0.05 per kilowatt-hour (kWh).
Dimalanta asked Meralco to validate its costs after announcing a P0.5738 per kilowatt-hour increase in the February billing owing to higher generation charge from its suppliers, including the natural gas plants.
ERC earlier said it was not provided with the results of Meralco’s validation of the fuel costs from its suppliers.
“On the basis of the foregoing, we are constrained from giving any clearance for the recovery of such costs if Meralco itself has not completed its validation or provided the results of such validation to the Commission. Pending Meralco’s validation of the basis of such charges, passing on of such costs to the consumers may be premature,” Dimalanta said.
The ERC stressed that as a regulatory body, it is committed to upholding transparency and protecting the consumers.
It said all distribution utilities are mandated to exercise prudence in passing on fuel costs to shield the Filipino consumers from bearing undue financial burdens and ensure that charges are “reasonable, uninflated, fairly computed, and consistent with their obligation to supply electricity in the least cost manner.”
