Power rates in Metro Manila will go up this month due to higher generation charges.
Until next month though, Luzon Grid will continue to have low power reserves.
The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) yesterday said the P0.1761 per kilowatt hour (kWh) upward rate adjustment brings in May overall power rates of Meralco to P11.4929 from last month’s P11.3168 per kWh.
This is equivalent to an increase of around P35 in the total bill of residential customers consuming 200 kWh monthly.
Meralco said generation charge went up to P7.6697 this month from P7.3295 per kWh in April due to higher Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) and power supply agreements (PSA) costs as it also included the collection of the final installment of deferred charges, equivalent to around P0.20 per kWh.
For this billing month, WESM charges increased by P1.7367 per kWh due to higher peak demand while charges from PSAs also went up by P0.9086 per kWh due to the depreciation of the peso.
Meralco said this month’s rate increase was tempered by the P1.4014 per kWh reduction from Independent Power Producers (IPPs) charges due to higher average plant dispatch and another P0.2455 per kWh decrease in transmission charge due to significantly lower ancillary service charges.
Other charges, comprising taxes, subsidies and universal charges, registered a net increase of P0.0814 per kWh that also included the P0.0433 per kWh increase on the Universal Charge for Missionary Electrification rate as collection of the feed-in-tariff allowance remains suspended until the August billing month.
Meralco distribution, supply and metering charges remain at P0.0360 per kWh, the rate since August 2022.
Of the total power requirements, 47 percent was sourced from PSAs, 35 percent from IPPs and 18 percent from WESM.
Meanwhile, the Department of Energy (DOE) said the Luzon grid remains under yellow alert until the middle of June and some weeks in August, September, October and November.
DOE undersecretary Rowena Guevara said at the the Laging Handa public briefing yesterday the scheduled resumption of operations of the Ilijan natural gas-fired power plant before the end of the month may also improve the power supply outlook in the region.
Apart from the phased return of the Ilijan power plant, the DOE said the expected completion of the full capacity of Mindanao-Visayas interconnection by August as well as the scheduled start of commercial operations of power plants with a total capacity of 360.43 megawatts from this month until December, will also help stabilize power supply in the region.
Meanwhile, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) said its orders and decisions that served as basis for generation rates implemented in the different franchise areas across the country are now easily accessible online.
ERC said the online generation rate database provides information on the approved generation
rates per distribution utility (DUs), per region in the country and per technology used to source electricity.
The regulatory body said with the improved database, consumers will be informed of generation rates implemented in their franchise areas while DUs will have access to benchmarking information that can aid in their decision-making processes when contracting PSAs.
