June electric bills to go up by P0.22 per kWh — Meralco

Published June 11, 2013 11:46am

Customers of Manila Electric Co. will see their bills increase by P0.22 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) this month on higher generation and transmission charges and taxes.

This means a household using 200 kWh will pay P44 more for their consumption in June, the power utility noted in a statement Tuesday.

The generation charge or cost of electricity sold by power producers increased by P0.19 per kWh to P5.66 per kWh. Still, this is 48 centavos lower than the generation charge in June 2012.

The cost of power from Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) increased by P0.27 per kWh.

Meralco said it was forced to depend mostly on electricity from WESM due to limited output from a number of generators supplying Meralco in May, particularly San Miguel Energy (Sual), South Premiere Power (Ilijan), Sem-Calaca Power, and First Gas.

On May 8, six power plants tripped, causing a Luzon-wide power outage. Involved were the Sta. Rita, San Lorenzo and Ilijan power plants in Batangas, as well as those in Mauban, Quezon and Sual in Pangasinan.

Independent Power Producers, Quezon Power (Philippines) Ltd. and First Gas had an average increase of P0.18 per kWh due to higher fuel cost per kWh, following the weakening of the peso against the dollar.

Transmission charge went up by P0.02 per kWh on higher service charges incurred by National Grid Corporation of the Philippines from generators while taxes increased by P1.50 per kWh, according to Meralco. — Danessa Rivera/VS, GMA News

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