Meralco hikes electricity rates anew

MANILA, Philippines — It’s a third month in a row of rate hikes for Manila Electric Co.’s customers, this time at 30.44 centavos per kilowatt-hour, as costs from all sources — spot purchases, supply contracts and independent power producers — of electricity went up.

Rate increases since October have accumulated to 82.09 centavos per kWh. Meralco said this would mean an increase in customers’ monthly bill by about P61 for a typical residential customer consuming 200 kWh in a month.

The company said that for the December billing period, its overall charge went up to P9.8623 per kwh from P9.5579 per kWh in the November billing period.

The generation charge alone went up by 16.5 centavos per kWh to P5.1967 per kWh from P5.0317 per kWh previously.— Ronnel W. Domingo