Meralco power rates further up in April

EMPOWERED Meralco employees fix power lines in Makati City.

MANILA, Philippines — Power rates will go up anew in April due to higher generation costs, the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) said Monday.

Overall rate for a typical household increased by P0.5363 from P9.6467 in March to P10.1830 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) this month, equivalent to an increase of P107 in the total bill of a customer consuming 200 kWh.

The generation charge inched up to P5.8724 per kWh driven by higher charges from independent power producers and the wholesale electricity spot market.

“This month’s generation charge increase would have been significantly higher, but Meralco coordinated with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and some of its suppliers to again defer collection of portions of their generation costs to cushion the impact on the customers’ bills,” Meralco Head of Regulatory Management Office Atty. Jose Ronald Valles said in a statement.

Aside from the suppliers’ deferred collection, the ERC ordered Meralco to delay the collection of P300 million generation costs.

Meralco’s refund of P18.7 billion in distribution-related charges likewise helped cushion the increase.

READ: Electricity users got P20B in refund in 2020, 2021

Meralco cautioned that generation rates are expected to still swell in the following months.

“On top of the deferred generation charges, the impact of the quarterly repricing of the Malampaya natural gas for the April supply will be reflected in the generation charge in May,” said Valles.

“Electricity consumption historically increases during the dry months, and this is expected to also weigh on the customers’ power bills,” he went on.

Meralco encouraged consumers to practice energy efficiency as power consumption is anticipated to hike during the dry months.

EDV