Meralco bills up in June after massive Luzon outage

MANILA, Philippines – The massive power outage that occurred in Luzon before the mid-term elections pushed up electricity bills by 22 centavos per kilowatt-hour (kWh) this month.

Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) announced power rates are up in June following a 19 centavo per kWh hike in the generation charge, which accounts for the power distributor’s supply purchases.

With the increase, a household consuming 200 kWh of electricity will pay an additional P44 this month.

The increase in generation charge stemmed from higher cost of power sourced from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM). Electricity purchased from WESM increased by 27 centavos per kWh.

“The May 8 incident had an adverse effect on generation charge as it limited the output of a number of generators supplying to Meralco, particularly San Miguel Energy, South Premiere Power, Sem-Calaca Power, and First Gas. This, in turn, resulted in higher dependence on WESM,” Meralco said.

The power outage was caused by a tripping in the Talisay transmission line of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines, the country’s transmission highway operator.

Independent power producers (IPPs) Quezon Power and First Gas also posted an average increase of 18 centavos per kWh due to higher fuel cost per kWh, following the weakening of the peso against the US dollar.

Plants selling to Meralco under the new power supply agreements (PSAs) offered the lowest rates, registering an average one centavo decrease.

The PSAs and IPPs accounted for 50% and 38%, respectively, of Meralco’s total energy requirement. Meralco sourced the remaining 12% from WESM and state-owned National Power Corp.

Aside from an increase in the generation charge, transmission charge also rose by 2 centavos per kWh due to higher ancillary service charge, Meralco said.

Taxes also went up by 1.5 centavos per kWh. – Rappler.com