Consumers will see increased electricity bills this month following the announcement of a power rate increase of ₱0.72 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) by the Manila Electric Company (Meralco), primarily due to generation charges.
The overall rate in April will be lifted from the previous ₱12.2901 per kWh in March to ₱13.0127 per kWh. This means an additional ₱144 for the monthly bill of a household consuming 200 kWh.
Meralco explained that the contributor to the increase is the generation charge increase of ₱0.7278 per kWh, chiefly due to higher costs at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM). WESM charges rose by ₱3.4205 per kWh due to tighter supply conditions in the Luzon grid during the month of supply in March.
Cost-wise, PSAs were up by ₱0.2811 per kWh, specifically as a result of the March 25 exit of the 400-MW PSA with Limay Power Inc.
Nevertheless, this was somewhat mitigated by a lower generation cost charged by IPPs, which decreased by ₱0.4738 per kWh. Such a decrease was due in large part to the appreciation of the peso against the US dollar, which in effect resulted in lower dollar-denominated generation costs—about 97% of the costs related to IPPs are in foreign currency.
For April, Meralco explained, its power supply mix was composed as follows: 44% PSAs, 33% IPPs, and 23% WESM.
Other than generation charges, ancillary service charges paid to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines through the reserve market have commanded the increase of ₱0.0809 per kWh on the transmission charge for residential customers.
Taxes and other subsidies account for a net increase of ₱0.1163 per kWh.eralco advises consumers to keep observing energy-efficient practices to help manage electricity consumption in light of the recent rate hike..
