Meralco raises electricity rates
Brace for higher electricity rates this month.
According to sources from the Manila Electric Company (Meralco), electricity rates will be raised by 10.92 per kilowatt hour (k Wh) in the February billing mainly due to massive increase in the generation charge and adjustments in the rates of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).
The generation charge is up 10.62 per Kwh mainly due to adjustments and normalization in capacity fees of its contracted power plants, primarily those of Pagbilao and
Ilijan gas plants. “The overall increase for 200-kilowatt hours household would be 10.92 per KWH” or a total of 1184 this billing month, the sources said. The 200-KWH usage segment is the biggest base of consumers being served in the franchise area of Meralco.
The sources added that the effective rate for this billing month will be 19.00 per KWH, up from the previous billing of 18.09 per KWH.
The rise in capacity fee payments is compounded by the lower dispatch of some power plants that went on maintenance shutdown, mainly the Calaca and Masinloc coal-fired plants as well as the Sta. Rita plant of First Gen.
The company also noted that the rate hike is partly due to the 10.15 per KWH adjustment accorded in the maximum allowable revenue (MAR) of NGCP for regulatory years 2015 and 2016, overlapping with what had been approved for its 2017 tariffs.
Coming from a relatively low base of generation charge in the previous supply month, Meralco executives said the rate hike this month was expected at a heftier amount.
The Department of Energy (DOE) previously said it will closely monitor the rate adjustments being implemented by the utility firm, intending to flesh out the details of the increases in cost components to ensure that consumers are not unjustly overcharged.
Bayan Muna Representative Carlos Isagani Zarate has already started questioning the reported rate hike, noting that such shall be reckoned with the movements in fuel prices as well as that of the peso-dollar exchange rate.
It is also widely anticipated that electricity rates will soar again next month, mainly due to supply tightening and fuel shift of some gas plants during the shutdown of the Malampaya gas field.