Meralco: June bill lower on stable power supply

POWER rates declined in June largely because there was enough energy available from suppliers to keep generation costs down,  the  Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) said.

Meralco said the electricity bill of  a typical household consuming 200 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per month would go down this month by 13 centavos per kWh to P8.32 per kWh. This will translate to a reduction of around P25 in their  bill.

The reduction is due to the lower generation charge, which more than offset a higher transmission charge, Meralco said.

This month’s overall rate is lower by P1.08 per kWh compared to June 2015’s P9.40 per kWh, Meralco said.

The decrease in the overall rate is primarily due to the generation charge, which is 16 centavos per kWh lower than last month’s, Meralco said. At P3.72 per kWh, it is also 74 centavos per kWh lower compared to June 2015’s P4.46 per kWh.

Charges from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) decreased by 98 centavos per kWh due to lower spot prices driven by the fewer generator outages during the May supply month compared to the previous month. The share of WESM to Meralco’s total power requirements rose slightly from 11.7 percent to 12.8 percent.

Cost of power from the independent power producers (IPPs) decreased by 22 centavos per kWh due mainly to the improvement in the dispatch of the QPPL coal plant in Quezon province.

Meanwhile, cost of power from plants under the power supply agreements (PSAs) was almost at the same level as last month, with only a slight increase of two centavos per kWh.

The share of PSAs and IPPs stood at 46.1 percent and 41.1 percent, respectively.

Meralco said the lower generation charge more than offset the increase in the transmission charge of 6.6 centavos per kWh, due to higher ancillary or reserve power service charges.

Beginning June and up to November, the transmission charge will include the collection of an ancillary service differential that will go to the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) Corp.

Taxes and other charges also decreased by around 33 centavos per kWh following the reduction in the generation charge.

Meralco’s distribution, supply, and metering charges have remained unchanged for 11 months since they registered a reduction in July 2015. Meralco clarified that it does not earn from the pass-through charges, such as the generation and transmission charges.