Meralco to hike power rate this March due to oil spike

The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) notified customers of an increase in electricity rates this March following the hike in fuel prices in the consecutive weeks, according to Joseph Morong’s “24 Oras” report on Wednesday.

Joe Zaldarriaga, Meralco vice president for corporate communications and spokesperson, said they are still waiting for the final billings from their suppliers, which could push the rates up.

“We are still waiting for all the final billings from our suppliers to come in pero base sa initial indications, pagkatapos ng dalawang magkasunod na buwan ng bawas-singil ay posibleng magkaroon ng pagtaas sa bills ngayong Marso,” he said.

(We are still waiting for all the final billings from our suppliers to come in but based on initial indications, after two consecutive months of bill cuts it is possible that there will be an increase in electricity bills this March.)

Meralco said it will announce on Thursday its rate adjustment.

Zaldarriaga said they also expect an increase in generation charge as the price remains high in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).

“We expect na mas mataas ang generation charge ngayong billing period dahil nanatiling mataas ang presyuhan sa Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM). Dahil sa scheduled maintenance ng Quezon Power at San Lorenzo plants, mas maraming kinuhang supply ang Meralco sa merkado,” he said.

(We expect the generation charge to be higher this billing period because the price remains high in the WESM. Due to the scheduled maintenance of the Quezon Power and San Lorenzo plants, Meralco has secured more supplies from the market.)

“Apektado rin ang generation charge ng patuloy na paghina ng piso kontra dolyar,” he added.

(The generation charge was also affected by the weak peso.)

Motorists may face an even more massive round of price increases in the coming week after fuel prices rose to its biggest hike so far this year on Tuesday.

Citing monitoring of oil trading as of March 7 based on the Mean of Platts Singapore, an oil industry source told GMA News Online that the price per liter of diesel may surge by P12.72 per liter.

Meanwhile, gasoline prices are estimated to increase by P8.28 per liter.

The estimated price adjustment was still subject to change depending on the trading results in the next four days.

Effective March 8, Tuesday, oil companies imposed the biggest price hike on petroleum products so far this year, marking the 10th straight week of price increases since the beginning of the year.—Richa Noriega/LDF, GMA News