Meralco rates up in May

Manila Electric Company (Meralco) on Thursday announced an upward adjustment in its rates for the month of May following the decline in the previous month, citing higher generation charges during the period.

In an advisory, Meralco said it will increase rates by P0.1761 per kilowatt-hour (/kWh) in May, bringing the overall rate for a typical household to P11.4929/kWh from P11.3168/kWh in April.

This would translate to an increase of P35 in the total electricity bill of residential customers consuming 200 kWh.

The power distributor cited higher generation charges, which climbed to P7.6697/kWh from P7.3295/kWh in April on the back of higher Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) and Power Supply Agreements (PSA) costs.

WESM charges increased to P1.7367/kWh due to higher peak demand, while charges from the PSA jumped to P0.9086/kWh as the depreciation of the peso impacted over 26% of PSA costs that were dollar-denominated.

Meralco noted, however, that the rate increase was partly offset by the reduction in transmission charges which fell by P0.2455/kWh on lower ancillary service charges.

“To better manage electricity consumption, which historically spikes between 10% to 40% during the dry season, Meralco encourages the public to embrace energy efficiency and conservation,” Meralco said.

Meralco constructs, operates, and maintains electric distribution systems in the cities and municipalities of Bulacan, Cavite, Metro Manila, and Rizal, as well as certain areas in the provinces of Batangas, Laguna, Pampanga, and Quezon.

The firm counts as subsidiaries and associates Vantage Energy Solutions and Management Inc. and MeridianX Inc., acting as retail electricity suppliers in Luzon and the Visayas. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News