Manila Electric Co. said Monday power rates will decrease by P0.0395 per kilowatt-hour in November to P8.5105 per kWh from P8.55 per kWh in October.
The lower rate is equivalent to around P8 in savings in the monthly bill of residential customers consuming 200 kWh.
“We are happy to report a P0.4-per-kWh reduction in the rates of our customers for this month of November,” Meralco spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga said.
Meralco’s generation charge decreased P0.0215 per kWh to P4.2018 per kWh in November from P4.2233 per kWh in October because of the P1.28-per-kWh reduction in charges from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, the country’s trading floor for electricity.
Charges at WESM declined on improved power supply situation in the Luzon grid in October.
Meanwhile, the cost of power from Meralco’s independent power producers also went down by P0.0842 per kWh following lower Malampaya natural gas prices and slight peso appreciation.
Meanwhile, charges from Meralco’s power supply agreements inched up by P0.2118 per kWh because of the forced outage of the San Gabriel natural gas power plant during the supply month.
Meralco secured the bulk of its supply requirement, or 53 percent, from its PSAs, followed by IPPs at 35 percent and WESM at 12 percent.
Transmission charge, taxes, and other charges for residential customers also registered a net reduction of P0.0180 per kWh in November.
Meralco said the collection of the universal charge-environmental charge amounting to P0.0025 per kWh was still suspended, as directed by the Energy Regulatory Commission.
Meralco’s distribution, supply, and metering charges were unchanged for 64 months.
The power distributor assured customers that it would fully comply with the ERC advisory on the non-disconnection policy.
The company said it would not implement any disconnection on account of non-payment of bills until Dec. 31 for consumers with a monthly consumption of 200 kWh and below.
It said that for other customers consuming 201 kWh and up, Meralco would comply with the ERC’s advisory that a minimum of 30-day grace period would be given on all payments falling due within the period of enhanced community quarantine and modified enhanced community quarantine without incurring interests, penalties and other charges.
Any unpaid balance after the lapse of the 30-day grace period should be payable in three equal monthly installments without incurring interests, penalties, and other charges.