Meralco March rate down by P0.45/kWh

MANILA, Philippines – Customers of Manila Electric Company (Meralco) will see a P0.45 per kilowatt-hour reduction in their bills this March.

This means a household that consumes an average of 200 kWh monthly will get a P90 cut in its bill.

The reduction was largely due to a P0.33 per kWh decrease in the generation charge to P5.21 per kWh from P5.54 per kWh in February, according to Meralco.

The generation charge, which comprises over half of the electric bill, fell on lower cost of power sourced from plants with power supply agreements (PSAs) with Meralco. The average cost of power under the PSAs decreased by P0.25 per kWh to P 4.57 per kWh from P4.81 per kWh last month. Meralco sourced 53% of its power requirements from PSAs.

The cost of power from independent power producers (IPPs) also fell by P0.36 per kWh to P5.63 per kWh from P5.99 per kWh in February. Meralco sourced 43% of its power requirements from IPPs.

The average Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) price also went down by P0.51 per kWh to P4.90 per kWh from P5.41 per kWh. WESM accounted for only 4% of Meralco’s power requirements. The average WESM price declined due to moderate demand and because there were no major plant outages.

Other bill components, which include subsidy, system loss charge and universal charge, also registered a reduction of P0.11 per kWh. Transmission charge, on the other hand, increased by P0.04 per kWh, while taxes fell by P0.05 per kWh. The distribution charge was unchanged.

Meralco reiterated that it does not earn from generation and other pass-through charges. Payments for the generation charge are remitted to power suppliers.

In February, the generation charge was P5.54 per kWh, while January’s was P5.67 per kWh. However, January’s was capped in deference to the temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the Supreme Court on Meralco’s record-high rate hike of P4.15 per kWh for the billing month of December. The January charge was supposed to be P10.23 per kWh.

The TRO is in effect until April. – Rappler.com