Consumers of Manila Electric Company (Meralco) will see a decrease of P0.1852 per kilowatt-hour in their September bill due to a lower generation charge.
This brings the overall rate for a typical household to P13.0851 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), down from P13.2703 in August.
“For residential customers consuming 200 kWh, they will see a reduction of P37 in their total electricity bill,” said Joe Zaldarriaga, Meralco vice president and head of corporate communications.
“We hope that along with relatively lower consumption during this period, this rate cut will bring relief to our customers,” he said.
The rate reduction was led by a P0.2603-per-kWh decrease in the generation charge as a result of lower costs from independent power producers (IPPs) and power supply agreements (PSAs).
Charges from IPPs and PSAs dropped by P1.3459 and P0.3660 per kWh, respectively due to the appreciation of the local currency against the US dollar and a decrease in international fuel prices.
The stronger peso affected about 99 percent of IPP costs and 57 percent of PSA costs, which are denominated in dollars.
These decreases were more than enough to offset higher charges from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) and the beginning of a contract price adjustment collection from Sual Power Inc. (SPI) and South Premiere Power Corporation (SPPC), Meralco said.
WESM charges increased by P0.3785 per kWh as average demand in the Luzon grid and average capacity on outage both went up.
Meanwhile, the price adjustments from SPI and SPPC follow a Supreme Court ruling that affirmed the companies’ right to invoke a “change in circumstance” clause in their supply agreements.
This allows them to collect price adjustments that reflect additional fuel costs.
As a result, the Energy Regulatory Commission approved a total of P5.1 billion to be collected over six months, starting September, which is equivalent to about P0.25 per kWh.
IPPs, PSAs and WESM accounted for 29 percent, 65 percent, and 6 percent, respectively, of Meralco’s total energy requirement for the period.
The transmission charge, another pass-through component of the electricity bill, increased by P0.1130, mainly due to higher ancillary service charges from the reserve market.
Other charges, including taxes, saw a net decrease of P0.0379 per kWh.
Meralco noted that its distribution charge has not changed since a P0.0360 per kWh reduction for residential customers began in August 2022.
Customers also continue to benefit from an ongoing distribution-related true-up adjustment, which is a P0.2024 per kWh reduction for residential customers.
