Meralco: Gen charge up for September

MANILA, Philippines – Consumers will see a small increase in the generation charge for the month of September, according to power distributor Manila Electric Company (Meralco).

The increase will be reflected in the October bills of the firm’s customers.

“We are looking at a slight upward adjustment in generation charge,” said Meralco spokesperson Joe Zaldarriaga.

Last month, customers who consumed 200 kilowatt hour (kWh) per month enjoyed a reduction of P0.58 per kWh due to lower generation charges, lower transmission charges, and a decrease in other fees.

The lower charges are equivalent to savings of around P116.

Meralco said it will release the full figures for the October bills next week.

“We will be able to announce final figures by middle of next week, when we expect to receive all suppliers’ billings,” said Meralco Utility Economic Head Larry Fernandez.

The generation charge for the August supply month was the lowest in 2014 to date: P5.19 per kWh.

This was due to the lack of outages and improved availability of power plants during the August supply month, in contrast to July when the Luzon grid encountered deficiency in power supply.

Contributing to the decreased rate was a P0.04 per kWh decrease in transmission charge; a P0.02 per kWH decrease in subsidies and system loss charge; and a P0.08 per kWh decrease in taxes. – Rappler.com