MANILA, Philippines – Electricity rates for households serviced by the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) are increasing in December, a spillover effect from the Malampaya shutdown in October.

Customers will see a considerable hike of P0.3143 per kilowatt-hour in their December bill, to P9.773 per kWh. Meralco attributed the increase to a higher generation charge. (Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story reported that the hike will be reflected in customers’ October bill. This has been corrected.)

The slight upward adjustment is equivalent to increases for households consuming the following:

• 200 kWh – P62.86
• 300 kWh – P94.29
• 400 kWh – P125.72
• 500 kWh – P157.15

According to the power distributor, the generation charge for residential customers jumped by P0.1997 per kWh from P5.3346 per kWh to P5.5343 per kWh. This, Meralco said, already includes the first of the four monthly installments that cover the deferred costs from the November bill.

“To cushion the impact of the previous month’s Malampaya facility maintenance shutdown, it can be recalled that the Energy Regulatory Commission directed Meralco to defer the collection of portions of their suppliers’ generation costs and to bill these on a staggered basis beginning this December until March 2022,” said Meralco.

The December power rate hike is slightly lower than the November increase – the highest in 2021 – which was at P0.3256 per kWh.

Charges from independent power producers (IPPs) went down by P0.1541 per kWh, while power supply agreements (PSAs) increased by P0.2142 per kWh. Despite the resumption of Malampaya operations, First Gen plants, Meralco said, still used alternative fuel due to supply restrictions.

IPPs and PSAs provided 38.2% and 45.7%, respectively.

Power spot prices, meanwhile, were lower by P0.0649 per kWh, attributed to lower demand and fewer outages. With this, the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market share rose to 16.1%.

Transmission charges increased by P0.0460 per kWh due to ancillary service charges, while taxes, system loss, and other charges also increased by P0.0686 per kWh.

Meralco said the distribution rate refund worth P0.2761 per kWh slightly tempered the increase in charges.

Generation and transmission charges are all pass-through charges, which means Meralco does not earn from these. – Rappler.com