Meralco rate to drop by 54¢/kwh

ustomers of Manila Electric o. (Meralco), the country’s biggest po er distributor, ill en oy a 54 centa o per kilo atthour (k h) reduction in their ctober billing statement, the company said yesterday.

Meralco said the reduction as a result of lo er generation charge for the period.

s such, a typical household consuming 200 k h ill see a reduction of 108 in this month’s billing statement, Meralco said.

he generation charge ent do n by 49 centa os per k h from 5.17 per k h to 4.68 per k h, its lo est le el since ctober 2010, as a result of lo er cost of po er sourced from the Wholesale Electric ity Spot Market (WESM), the country’s trading floor for electricity.

o er sourced from WESM as lo er by 8.99 per k h compared to the pre ious month, as a result of the higher a ailability of hydroelectric plants.

nother contributor to the decline in the genera tion charge is the end of the incremental currency e change rate ad ustment ( E ) collection by the ational o er orp. ( apocor), Meralco said.

erage cost of po er sourced from plants sell ing to Meralco under the po er supply agreements ( S s), also decreased by four centa os per k h from 4.21 to 4.17, Meralco also said.

Similarly, the independent po er producers also registered a 26 centa o reduction in rates to 5 per k h from the pre ious month’s le el of 5.26 per k h.

mong other reasons, S and rates ent do n ith the strengthening of the peso.

n terms of transmission and other charges, Mer alco said a 200 k h household ould also e peri ence a slight decrease of 0.2 centa o per k h in the transmission charge.

alue added ta and local franchise ta also de creased by 1.1 centa os per k h.

Meralco said other bill components, hich include subsidy and system loss, had a total reduction of 3.4 centa os per k h.

Meralco reiterated that it does not earn from these pass through charges, the largest of hich is the generation charge.

ayment for the generation charge goes to the po er suppliers such as the s, plants selling to Meralco under the S s, apocor and WESM. he rest of the pass through costs include transmission, ta es, uni ersal charges, and other charges. Meralco’s distribution, supply, and metering charges account for only about 18 percent on the a erage of the total electricity bill, Meralco said.