Metro Manila, Philippines – Power distributor Manila Electric Company (Meralco) will charge lower rates this month mainly reduced transmission charges.
In an advisory, the company said the January charges are lower by P0.16 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), bringing down the overall rate for typical households to P12.9508 per kWh.
The December rate was P13.1145 per kWh.
Meralco said the adjustment translates to the following charges:
200 kWh – P33
300 kWh – P49
400 kWh – P65
500 kWh – P82
“While there were upward pressures on certain cost components this January, overall electricity rates declined – for the second straight month,” said Joe Zaldarriaga, Meralco vice president and head of corporate communications.
Meralco said the lower transmission charge mainly triggered the overall rate cut this month on top of the lower ancillary service charges incurred by grid operator National Grid Corporation of the Philippines.
Generation charge, which covers more than half of the total bill, also decreased mainly due to lower charges from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) and power supply agreements.
The power distributor also said there was a reduction in taxes and other charges.
“These downward movements in the bill components were able to offset the implementation of the Green Energy Auction Allowance (GEA-All) which begins this month, in accordance with a recent directive of the ERC (Energy Regulation Commission). The approved GEA-All is equivalent to P0.0371 per kWh,” Meralco said.
