Power rates to go down

THE MANILA Electric Co. on Wednesday announced that the overall rates for its residential customers will go down by 13 centavos per kilowatt hour in October.

This means that for a typical household consuming 200 kWh, the overall electricity bill would go down by P26 compared to last month’s.

Meralco spokesperson Joe Zaldarriaga said the reduction in the overall rates was primarily because of the lower generation charge.

This is the sixth straight month that the overall rates have declined, Zaldarriaga said.

The October overall rate is lower at P8.42 per kWh, compared to the P8.55 per kWh rate in September, P9.12 per kWh in August, P9.38 per kWh in July, P9.40 per kWh in June, and P9.98 per kWh in May.

The last time Meralco announced an overall power rate increase was in April, when tight power supply combined with the impact of the Malampaya shutdown to install a new gas platform pushed overall power rates by 27 centavos per kWh to P10.68 per kWh, from P10.41 per kwh last March.

Meralco said the reduction in the overall rates for October was primarily because of the lower generation charge, which dropped by 14 centavos per kWh from September. At P3.996 per kWh, this month’s generation charge is also the lowest since January 2010, Meralco said.

Rates at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market  also registered a reduction of P3.71 per kWh, largely due to higher plant availability in September as compared to August.

The average rate from the plants operated by the independent power producers  increased by 8 centavos per kWh. The average rate of the plants under the power supply agreements  also registered an increase of 18 centavos per kWh due to the lower dispatch of some power plants, such as Ilijan.