Meralco slashes household rate by 11 cents in June 2025

Customers of the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) should expect lower electricity bills this month as the power distribution utility is implementing another round of reduction in its household rate due to lower generation charge despite an uptick in transmission charge.

In an advisory, Meralco announced it is rolling back its power rate by 11 centavos per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for the June billing period.

This is the second straight month that the power distributor slashed its electricity rate.

The power rate cut could translate to about a P22 decrease in this month’s bill of a typical customer consuming 200 kWh.

In particular, Meralco’s overall rate will go down by P0.1076 per kWh, bringing it to P12.1552 from P12.2628 in May.

“Our customers will continue to benefit from lower power rates this month mainly due to lower generation charge,” said Meralco vice president and head of Corporate Communications Joe Zaldarriaga.

Meralco’s generation charge saw a decrease of P0.1099 per kWh to P7.3552 per kWh on the back of lower charges from Power Supply Agreements (PSAs), Independent Power Producers (IPPs), and the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).

It said that charges from PSAs and IPPs decreased by P0.3699 and P0.1034 per kWh, respectively amid lower fuel costs and higher average dispatch.

Charges from WESM also went down by P0.6342 per kWh, resulting from “improved supply situation in the Luzon grid for the May supply.”

Meralco explained that the 533-megawatt (MW) reduction in average capacity on outage offset the increase in average demand of about 527 MW.

The power distributor said PSAs, IPPs, and WESM accounted for 48%, 33%, and 18%, respectively, of its total energy requirement for the period.

Meanwhile, the company said transmission charge went up by P0.0214 per kWh due to “higher ancillary service charges from the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines’ (NGCP) Ancillary Service Procurement Agreements and the Reserve Market.”

The decrease in generation charge, however, more than offset the increase in transmission charge, according to Meralco.

Moreover, other charges, including taxes, registered a net decrease of P0.0191 per kWh.

Meralco said pass-through charges for generation and transmission are paid by Meralco to the power suppliers and the grid operator, respectively, while taxes, universal charges, and Feed-in Tariff Allowance are all remitted to the government.

The Pangilinan-led utility said its distribution charge has not been adjusted since the P0.0360 per kWh reduction for a typical residential customer beginning August 2022.

It added that customers also continue to benefit from the ongoing implementation of the distribution-related true-up adjustment, equivalent to a reduction of P0.2024 per kWh for residential customers.

Meralco also reminded qualified customers anew to apply for available subsidy mechanisms namely the lifeline rate program and/or the senior citizen discount.

Beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) and other marginalized households with certification from their local Social Welfare and Development Office (SWDO) can apply for inclusion in the lifeline rate program to benefit from discounts on their electricity bills. 

Only customers with approved applications can receive the Lifeline Rate, it said.

Meralco said Filipinos aged 60 and above, meanwhile, can also apply for the senior citizen discount to get a 5% reduction on certain components of their Meralco bill as long as their consumption does not exceed 100 kWh. —AOL, GMA Integrated News