The Manila Electric Company (Meralco) on Wednesday, September 9, announced that it will further slash its rates this month by P0.0623 to P8.4288 per kilowatt hour (kWh).

For a household that consumes 200 kWh, this is equivalent to a P12 reduction in the total bill.

This is the 5th straight month that Meralco has cut its rates. In August, the overall rate for a typical household was at P8.4911 per kWh.

Meralco said the latest decrease is due to a decline in the following charges:

• Generation charge – P0.1710 due to force majeure claims
• Power supply agreements charges – P0.3032 due to force majeure claims
• Wholesale Electricity Spot Market charges – P0.0147 due to a decrease in Luzon demand brought by the modified lockdown in August
• Transmission charges – P0.0112 for ancillary service charges
• Taxes and other charges – P0.0130
• Environmental charge – P0.0025 remains suspended

Total force majeure claims for September amounted to about P463 million. Had Meralco not invoked this provision – which it also did in August due to the lockdown – it said that the total rate would have increased by 13 to 14 centavos per kWh.

Meanwhile, Meralco said purchases from independent power producers inched up by P0.0601 per kWh. – Rappler.com