INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Customers of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) can expect their electricity bills to go down again this month, thanks to lower charges from power producers.
In a briefing on Tuesday, Joe Zaldarriaga, vice president for communications of Meralco, announced that residential customers may enjoy a reduction of nearly P0.12 centavos per kilowatt-hour in their electricity bills this month. Thus, a household consuming 200 kWh will pay P24 less.
This is the second consecutive month that Meralco reduced its rates. Last month, the reduction was equivalent to P15 for every 200 kWh used.
Zaldarriaga said the lower generation charges offset the increase in the rate from Meralco’s power supply agreements (PSAs) where it gets a huge chunk of its supply.
Meralco was also able to maximize its PSAs, which limited its need to access the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM). This mitigated the impact of higher spot market prices compared to PSA rates.
Meanwhile, charges from independent power producers (IPPs) also went down due to Quezon Power and First Gas-Sta. Rita’s higher plant dispatch. Quezon Power resumed normal operations last month following outages in December while First Gas’ output increased after the completion of its scheduled maintenance.
The IPP charges also reflected the reimbursement to First Gas from Malampaya’s operator Shell Philippines Exploration BV in relation to the use of liquid fuel during the unplanned supply restrictions in Malampaya.
The PSAs, IPPs, and WESM provide 47.4 percent, 52.2 percent, and 0.4 percent of Meralco’s energy requirement, respectively.
Other charges like taxes and transmission registered an increase, Meralco said, while the collection of the universal charge-environmental charge remains suspended as directed by the Energy Regulatory Commission.
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