Meralco rates up
The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) has announced a 22 centavos per kilowatt hour (kWh) increase in electricity rates for its residential customers this April.
It cited the main drivers for the increase are the higher generation costs being charged by power suppliers and an additional 8 centavos per kWh in the feed-in tariff allowance (FIT-All), a subsidy for renewable energy producers that is collected from consumers.
For a typical household consuming 200 kWh, this month’s adjustment will translate to an increase of about P44 in the electricity bill.
At P8.86 per kWh, this month’s rate will be lower by P1.82 per kWh than the P10.68 per kWh rate in April 2015.
The increase is primarily because of the generation charge, which increased by 10 centavos per kWh from last month. At P4.10 per kWh, it is P1.31 per kWh lower compared with April 2015’s P5.41 per kWh.
Meralco said this was because of the higher charges from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), which went up by P2.23 per kWh. Peak demand in the Luzon Grid increased by more than 500 megawatts (MW) from the February to the March supply months with the approach of summer.
