Power rates up in July, Meralco says

Infographic by Jannielyn Ann Bigtas

After two consecutive months of lowering electricity rates, Manila Electric Co. on Tuesday announced an increase for July.

According to Meralco, the rate for its residential customers will go up by P0.29 per kilowatt hour (kWh) this month.

This translates to an increase of around P58 in the electricity bill of a typical household consuming 200 kWh.

Still, the Meralco said its customers have enjoyed a cumulative reduction of P108 in their bills due to power rate adjustments in May and June.

"At P8.61 per kWh, this month’s rate is lower by P0.77 per kWh compared to July 2015’s P9.38 per kWh," it said.

Meralco said the rates increase was primarily due to the hike in the generation charge at P0.34/kWh from last month's level of P3.72/kWh, which was the lowest since October 2004.

"This increase in the generation charge was primarily due to the higher charges from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), which went up by P4.49/kWh after dipping to P3.97/kWh last month," the power distributor added.

Meralco said this was the result of higher generation capacity on outage during the June supply month compared to the previous month, resulting in five instances of yellow alerts in June.

"It will be recalled that several power plants went on outage in June," it said.

In contrast, the Luzon Grid did not experience any Yellow or Red Alert in May, when peak demand reached a record high 9,727 MW, according to Meralco.

The transmission charge decreased to P0.08 per kWh, mainly due to lower ancillary charges.

Taxes and other charges increased by P0.01 and P0.02 per kWh, following the increase in generation charge.

Meralco’s distribution, supply, and metering charges remain unchanged after it registered a reduction a year ago. —NB, GMA News