Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 10) — Meralco’s power rates are up this month, the power distributor announced Friday.
The company said there would be a “slight increase” of ₱0.1055 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in electricity rates in September, bringing its overall rate to ₱9.1091 per kWh
The upward adjustment means a typical household consuming 200 kWh a month will be charged around ₱21 more in its electric bill, it added.
Meralco attributed September’s upward rate adjustment to a higher generation charge. It noted a correction on the Net Settlement Surplus component in the July 2021 Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) bill, which lessened the decline in WESM charges.
“Generation charge, which makes up about 55 percent of customers’ electricity bills, increased by ₱0.1117 per kWh to ₱5.0439 from last month’s ₱4.9322,” it said.
Charges from power supply agreements climbed to ₱0.2494 per kWh in September, said Meralco, adding that the drop in demand due to the return of strict lockdowns in Metro Manila and nearby provinces “led to lower excess energy deliveries” priced at a discount.
Meanwhile, charges from independent power producers rose to ₱0.0955 per kWh. The firm said this is “due to lower average plant dispatch with the forced outage of Quezon Power (460 MW) from August 18 to 22 and scheduled outage of San Lorenzo Module 50 (265 MW) starting August 16.”
Wholesale Electricity Spot Market charges, however, logged a reduction of ₱0.7504 per kWh, added Meralco.
Transmission charges also declined in September to ₱0.6803 per kWh due to lower ancillary service charges, it further explained.
