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Meralco hikes November power rates due to Malampaya shutdown
By TED CORDERO,GMA NewsCustomers of the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) should brace for higher electricity bills this November.
This is the eighth straight month that Meralco upwardly adjusted its household power rates.
In an advisory, Meralco said it hiked the electricity rate for a typical household by P0.3256 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), bringing the overall rate to P9.4630 per kWh in November from October’s rate of P9.1374 per kWh “due to higher generation charge.”
The increment translates to an increase of around P65.12 in the total bill of a residential customer consuming 200 kWh, P97.68 for customers consuming 300 kWh, and P162.6 for those consuming 500 kWh of electricity.
Meralco said higher costs due to the Malampaya shutdown triggered the increase in generation charge.
In particular, the power distributor said the November generation charge went up by P0.2911 per kWh to P5.3346 per kWh from P5.0435 per kWh the previous month “as a result of the Malampaya natural gas facility shutdown.”
“The shutdown resulted in higher costs of power from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) and Independent Power Producers (IPPs),” it said.
The Malampaya facility maintenance shutdown from October 2 to 25 resulted in lesser available supply in the WESM, according to Meralco.
The company added that the tight supply condition in the Luzon grid led to sustained high prices in the WESM and triggered the secondary price cap on September 30, October 1, 21, and 22, or 8.39% of the October supply month.
The Luzon grid was also put on yellow alert on October 20 due to forced outages of several power plants.
“As a result, WESM charges went up by P1.7073 per kWh,” Meralco said.
Likewise, charges from IPPs increased by P0.8186 per kWh.
“To ensure continuous power supply and to avoid rotating power interruptions, First Gas-Sta. Rita and San Lorenzo plants shifted to more expensive alternative fuel during the 24-day Malampaya shutdown,” the power distributor said.
Meralco said charges from power supply agreements (PSAs), meanwhile, went down by P0.2841 per kWh mainly due to higher excess energy deliveries, which are priced at a discount, from AC Energy, First Gen Hydro Power, San Miguel Energy and South Premiere Power.
The new PSA of Meralco with the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM) also contributed to the decrease in the PSA rate.
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WESM, IPPs and PSAs accounted for 13.9%, 37.4%, and 48.7%, respectively, of Meralco’s energy requirement.
“This month’s generation charge increase would have been significantly higher, but Meralco took the initiative to cushion the impact on the bills of its customers,” the power distributor said.
“The distribution utility coordinated with some of its suppliers to defer collection of portions of their generation costs. These deferred charges will subsequently be billed on a staggered basis over the next four months as directed by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC),” it said.
Meralco said its continued implementation of the Distribution Rate True-Up refund which began in March 2021 also helped temper the overall increase. ?
The refund rate for residential customers is at P0.2761 per kWh and appears in customer bills as a line item called “Dist True-Up.”
The ERC earlier provisionally approved Meralco’s proposal to refund around P13.9 billion over a period of 24 months or until the amount is fully refunded.
This amount represented the difference between the Actual Weighted Average Tariff and the ERC-approved Interim Average Rate for distribution-related charges for the period July 2015 to November 2020.
Transmission charge for residential customers decreased by P0.0403 per kWh due to lower Ancillary Service and Power Delivery Service charges, according to Meralco.
Taxes, system loss and other charges, also registered an increase of P0.0748 per kWh.
The collection of the Universal Charge-Environmental Charge amounting to P0.0025 per kWh remains suspended, as directed by the ERC.
Meralco reiterated that it does not earn from the pass-through charges from generation and transmission, as payments go to the power suppliers and the system operator, respectively, while taxes, universal charges, and Feed-in Tariff Allowance (FIT-All) are remitted to the government.
Distribution, supply, and metering charges, which are the only costs that go to Meralco, have remained unchanged for 76 months, after registering a reduction back in July 2015, the company said. — VBL, GMA News