Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) forecasts a slight increase in electricity rates for January bills due to a weaker peso and a new government-mandated charge, the utility said Thursday.
While final billings from power suppliers are still being processed, initial indications show minimal movement in electricity rates this month, Meralco spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga said.
He noted that upward pressure on the generation charge stems primarily from the weakening of the peso against the US dollar, as a significant portion of power supply costs are dollar-denominated.
The peso closed at a new record low of 59.355 against the US dollar Wednesday.
Meralco said these costs would be offset by lower prices at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market during the December supply month.
The Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines reported that the Luzon grid experienced a supply increase and a demand decrease, resulting in a lower average price of P2.98 per kilowatt-hour last month compared with P3.52 per kWh in November.
Luzon supply increased 2.6 percent to 14,422 MW, while demand softened 2.9 percent to 9,324 MW.
Another factor affecting January rates is the collection of the Green Energy Auction Allowance (GEA-All) as approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission.
The GEA-All is a charge applied to all on-grid end-users to fund the differential amount needed to pay eligible renewable energy plants.
The regulator approved the application of the National Transmission Corp to collect a GEA-All of P0.0371 per kWh effective this month. Zaldarriaga said this would appear as a separate line item in customer bills.
He said Meralco remains optimistic that a general decrease in consumption among its 8 million customers would help manage overall electricity bills.
Meralco is the largest power retailer in the Philippines.
