Meralco expands areas; rate cut seen

The Manila Electric Company (Meralco), the country’s largest power distributor, is on track to power up its entire franchise area by June.

“We are set to complete priority two and three groups, which cover 536 and close to 27,000 households with December 2020 and June 2021 completion targets, respectively,” Meralco senior vice president and head of networks Ronnie Aperocho told reporters in a press conference on Monday.

Aperocho noted that the company earmarked P1.1 billion for the remaining projects under the Meralco Electrification Program (MEP).

“Despite the community quarantine, we remain committed to bringing light to our unserved and underserved customers through our Meralco electrification program,” he added.

As of December 2020, Meralco has energized 296 sites for a 55 percent energization level, with 240 sites now on the construction stage.

“With the completion of these projects, Meralco would have already complied with the 100 percent household electrification as envisioned by the DoE (Department of Energy) and the Duterte administration,” Aperocho said.

March rate cut seen

Relatedly, Meralco projected a reduction in power rates this month due to lower generation costs and the impact of a refund order from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).

“Based on initial projections, there is a strong likelihood that power rates for March 2021 will go down. (This would be the) the second consecutive month of decrease for the year,” Meralco spokesperson and vice president for

Corporate Communications Joe Zaldarriaga said in a statement.

“Early indications of generation charge show a possible downward movement due to lower average capacity on an outage in Luzon, which may be tempered by the recent peso depreciation,” he added.

In February, Meralco cut power rates by 7.04 centavos per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to P8.6793/kWh from P8.7497 in January.

Meralco usually announces power rate adjustments every second week of the month.