Meralco rolls back power rate by over 35 centavos

Customers of the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) should expect a sigh of relief this December, after two straight months of rate hikes, as the power distributor rolled back its household power rate.

Meralco is reducing its rate by P0.3557 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for the December billing period.

This would bring down its overall household to P13.1145 per kWh from P13.4702 per kWh in November.

This could translate to a reduction of more than P71 in this month’s bill of a typical customer consuming 200 kWh.

“With the holiday season approaching, we hope this rate adjustment gives much-needed relief for our customers,” said Meralco vice president and head of Corporate Communications Joe Zaldarriaga.

The power distributor attributed the rate reduction to lower transmission and generation charges.

Transmission charge declined by P0.1462 per kWh due to lower ancillary service charges from the reserve market incurred by the National Grid Corp. of Philippines (NGCP), while generation charge went down by P0.1358 per kWh on the back of reduced charges from Independent Power Producers (IPPs).

This, as IPP rates slipped by P0.2127 per kWh amid the decrease in natural gas prices and improved plant dispatch as well as the peso appreciation which affected 99% of supplier costs that are dollar-denominated. 

Charges from Power Supply Agreements (PSAs) and the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), on the other hand, saw a slight increase of P0.0706 and P0.8086 per kWh, respectively. 

IPPs, PSAs, and WESM accounted for 21%, 73%, and 6%, respectively, of Meralco’s total energy requirement for the period.

Meanwhile, taxes and other charges registered a P0.0737 per kWh net reduction.

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

The company added that its distribution charge has not moved since the P0.0360 per kWh reduction for a typical residential customer in August 2022. —AOL, GMA Integrated News