Power rates are expected to increase slightly in October on higher transmission charges, retailer Manila Electric Co. said Friday.
Meralco said the overall rate for a typical household rose by P0.0283 per kilowatt-hour in October to P9.1374 per kWh from P9.1091 in September.
This is equivalent to an increase of P6 in the monthly bill of a residential customer consuming 200 kWh, according to Meralco.
Meralco attributed the increase in electricity rates to the higher transmission charges, which rose P0.0282 per kWh to P0.7085 per kWh from P0.6803 per kWh for residential customers in October, on higher ancillary service rates. These accounted for about 33 percent of the total transmission costs of National Grid Corporation of the Philippines.
The increase in overall rates was partly tempered by Meralco’s implementation of the distribution rate true-up refund that began in March 2021. The refund rate for residential customers is P0.2761 per kWh and appears in customer bills as a line item called “Dist True-Up.”
The Energy Regulatory Commission provisionally approved Meralco’s proposal to refund around P13.9 billion over a period of 24 months or until the amount is fully refunded.
The amount represented the difference between the actual weighted average tariff and the ERC-approved interim average rate for distribution-related charges for the period July 2015 to November 2020.
Generation charges registered a slight reduction of P0.0004 per kWh to P5.0435 per kWh in October from P5.0439 per kWh in the previous month.
The lower average capacity on outage and average demand in the Luzon grid in the September supply month pulled down charges from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market by P1.2061 per kWh. The share of WESM to Meralco’s total requirement was higher at 13.4 percent during the month.
The cost of using alternative liquid fuel during the Malampaya gas supply restriction in September was not yet included in the charges and would be billed in subsequent months.
Charges from power supply agreements went up by P0.3156 per kWh to P4.9417 per kWh in October from P4.6261 per kWh in September on higher fuel prices and the peso’s depreciation against other currencies.
IPPs and PSAs accounted for 37.1 percent and 49.5 percent, respectively of Meralco’s energy requirement.
Meanwhile, Meralco said disconnection activities remained suspended in Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal and Lucena City in Quezon, which were still under modified enhanced community quarantine from Oct. 1 to 15.
Also covered by the suspension are areas in National Capital Region that were placed under granular lockdown by their respective local government units until Oct. 15.
