Meralco bills go up again

MANILA, Philippines — The Manila Electric Co.’s (Meralco) overall rates went up for the second month in a row, this time by 18.53 centavos per kilowatt-hour in the May electricity bill as generation charges increased amid tight supply in the Luzon grid.

The typical residential customer of Meralco, which is billed for 200 kWh, will pay an additional P37.

In May, Meralco’s overall rate increased to P8.592 per kWh from P8.4067 per kWh in April.

The cost of electricity from power generation companies with supply contracts signed in the 2000s— accounting for 52 percent of Meralco’s supply—increased by 25.41 centavos per kWh.

Meralco said this was due to the restricted supply of Malampaya natural gas, which many of these suppliers use in their generators.

Also, prices at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market remained high due to tight supply conditions. In the Luzon grid, power plants that were not running accounted for a total of 3,300 megawatts while peak demand exceeded 10,400 MW.

On the other hand, the supply from power producers with contracts signed in the 1990s—accounting for 42 percent of Meralco’s supply—decreased by 19.21 centavos per kWh.

Joe Zaldarriaga, vice president of Meralco, said the increase in electricity costs this month was also tempered by the continuing implementation of distribution rate true-up refund in March.

Zaldarriaga said the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) provisionally approved Meralco’s proposal to refund around P13.9 billion over a period of 24 months or until the amount is fully refunded.

“This amount represents the difference between the actual weighted average tariff and the ERC-approved interim average rate for distribution-related charges for the period July 2015 to November 2020,” he said.