Meralco bills lower this month

MANILA Electric Co. (Meralco) customers can expect their power bills to go down by 4.51 centavos per kilowatt-hour in September, as the decline in transmission charges had offset the increase in the generation cost.

This meant that a typical household consuming 200 kWh of electricity a month will pay P9.02 less for its power bill this month, while those consuming 300 kWh will see a reduction of P13.53.

Households consuming 400 kWh and 500 kWh monthly can meanwhile expect their power bills to go down by P18.04 and P22.55, respectively, data from Meralco showed.

According to Meralco, the transmission charge component in the power bill fell by 10 centavos per kWh due to a reduction in the ancillary charges of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP). These charges refer to the cost of standby power supply that can be tapped in case the regular supply falls short of the requirement.

Taxes and other charges also fell by a total of 4 centavos per kWh.

The decline in these charges had offset the increases in the cost of electricity sourced by Meralco from its suppliers during the month of August.

The distribution utility disclosed that the generation charge rose by 8.79 centavos per kWh to P3.94 per kWh for this month, mainly because the cost of power from the independent power producers (IPPs) increased by 17 centavos per kWh.

The hike in IPP prices was due largely to the reduction in the operating hours of Quezon Power, which went on forced outage from Aug. 5 to Aug. 8; and First-Gas Sta. Rita, with Modules 10 and 20 undergoing scheduled maintenance from Aug. 13 to Aug. 14, and the whole August supply month, respectively.