Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 12) — Customers of Meralco will pay more for electricity this November as the power distributor announced a new round of rate hikes, triggered by the Malampaya natural gas facility shutdown.
In a statement released Monday, Meralco said the overall household rate for the month inched up by ₱0.3256 per kilowatt hour (kWh) to ₱9.4630 per kWh from ₱9.1374 per kWh registered in October.
This means residential customers consuming 200 kWh a month should expect to pay an additional ₱65 for electricity, the company said.
Meralco attributed the upward adjustment to higher generation charges which jumped ₱0.2911 per kWh to ₱5.3346 per kWh from last month’s ₱5.0435 per.
“The shutdown resulted in higher costs of power from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) and Independent Power Producers (IPPs),” it said.
The plant, which supplies 40% of Luzon’s power needs, went on original maintenance downtime last Oct. 2 to 25.
