MANILA, Philippines – The Manila Electric Company (Meralco) is hiking rates for the June billing, it announced on Friday, June 10.

The overall rate will go up by P0.3982 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to P10.4612 per kWh. This is the third straight month that rates breached P10 per kWh.

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

• 200 kWh – P79.64
• 300 kWh – P119.46
• 400 kWh – P159.28
• 500 kWh – P199.10

In a media release, the power distributor said that higher fuel costs drove up the generation charge by P0.3313 per kWh to P6.5590 per kWh this month from P6.2277 per kWh in May.

Charges from Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and Power Supply Agreements (PSAs) were hiked by P0.6083 and P0.0859 per kWh due to higher fuel costs. Meralco explained that fuel charges from First Gas plants went up by 8%, with the increased usage of more expensive liquid fuel as Malampaya gas supply remained restricted.

Coal prices also went up by an average of 23%, which contributed to higher IPP and PSA charges.

Meralco added that spot market prices remained elevated, with the secondary price cap implemented twice in April. Peak demand in the Luzon grid reached 12,113 megawatts given the easing of pandemic restrictions.

The utility company said that the generation charge for the June bill included the last of three installments of the deferred generation costs in the March bill. It also includes the second of three installments for the April bill. In total, this amounted to P0.20 per kWh of the generation charge.

For the June bill, PSAs and IPPs contributed 48% and 40%, respectively, to Meralco’s energy requirement. The Wholesale Electricity Spot Market accounted for the remaining 12%.

Aside from the generation charge, the transmission charge for residential customers was also slightly hiked by P0.0083 per kWh while taxes and other charges had a slight net increase of P0.0586 per kWh.

Meralco said that the implementation of distribution-related refunds continued to temper the overall power rate by P0.9353 per kWh.

The utility company reiterates it only earns from distribution, supply, and metering charges. – Rappler.com