Malampaya gas shutdown hikes Meralco rates by P0.3256 per kWh

ELECTRICITY rates of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) will increase by P0.3256 per kilowatt-hour in November, with the overall charge for a typical household rising to P9.4630 per kWh from last month’s P9.1374 on higher generation rate.

The increased rate is equivalent to around P65 in the total bill of a residential customer consuming 200 kWh.

The November generation charge increased P0.2911 per kWh to P5.3346 per kWh from P5.0435 per kWh in the previous month as a result of the shutdown of the Malampaya natural gas facility.

Meralco head of utility economics Lawrence Fernandez said this month’s generation charge would have been significantly higher, but the power retailer took the initiative to cushion the impact in the bills of customers.

Fernandez said Meralco coordinated with some of its suppliers to defer the collection of portions of their generation costs.

The deferred charges will subsequently be billed on a staggered basis over the next four months as directed by the Energy Regulatory Commission.

“The generation charge would have been P0.81 or around P0.52 higher without the efforts that Meralco took (in) deferring some of this costs with our suppliers,” Fernandez said.

He said P0.52 per kWh had been deferred and it would be amortized over the next four months in the bills of customers starting December until March 2022.

“The alternative would have been a higher generation charge this month,” Fernandez said.

Meralco spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga said the Malampaya shutdown resulted in higher costs of power from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) and Independent Power Producers (IPPs).