Meralco rates to drop in November

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Meralco rates to drop in November

AFP

Power rates will go down by P82 for typical households consuming 200 kWh, as the generation charge – the biggest component of an electric bill – declines

MANILA, Philippines – Expect a drop in electricity bills for November, as the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) announced on Thursday, November 6, a decline in its generation charge.

Meralco said the generation charge, the biggest component of an electric bill, went down to P5.11 ($0.11*) per kilowatt hour (kWh) from P5.35 ($0.12) per kWh last month.

This will lead to a reduction of P0.41 ($0.009) per kWh in November power bills for a typical household consuming 200 kWh – equivalent to a decrease of around P82 ($1.82) in the bill.

Meralco said the decline in generation charge was primarily due to the improved availability of power plants and lower cost of fuel for the supply month of October.

Another factor, according to Meralco, is that the Malampaya gas facility did not experience any supply restriction.

It will be recalled that generation costs in electricity bills for October increased mainly due to a cumulative 5-day Malampaya restriction, from September 8 to 11 and September 21 to 23. It forced the Sta. Rita and San Lorenzo power plants to use more expensive liquid fuel in lieu of natural gas, thus resulting in higher generation costs from these plants.

Also, the Malampaya restriction reduced dispatch of the Ilijan power plant during the September supply month.

With less incidences of simultaneous forced outages of power plants, the secondary price cap at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) was not triggered during the October supply month, and WESM charges registered a reduction of P25.61 ($0.57) per kWh.

Charges from Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and Power Supply Agreements (PSAs), meanwhile, registered reductions of P0.54 ($0.012) per kWh and P0.03 ($0.0007) per kWh, respectively.

In terms of share to Meralco’s total power requirements for the October supply month, WESM, IPPs, and PSAs accounted for 5%, 47%, and 48%, respectively.

Contributing also to the overall downward adjustment in the bills to households is the P0.083 ($0.002) decrease in the transmission charge. This was due to the lower ancillary service charges.

Taxes, meanwhile, registered a P0.056 ($0.001) decrease per kWh. There was also a cumulative decrease of P0.026 ($0.0006) per kWh in subsidies and the system loss charge.

Meralco reiterated that it does not earn from the pass-through generation and transmission charges. Of the total bill, Meralco said, only the distribution, supply, and metering charges accrue to the company. – Rappler.com

 

 

 

*($1 = P45.02)

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