Prices are up by over a peso across all fuel products this week after last week’s mixed adjustments.
Meanwhile, power rates in the franchise area of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) will go down by almost P1 this month after three consecutive months of increases, wiping out the increases since January.
Seaoil increased per liter prices by P1.10 on gasoline, P1.55 on diesel and P1.40 on kerosene.
Clean Fuel and Jetti adjusted per liter prices upward by P1.10 on gasoline and P1.55 on diesel.
Today’s upward price movements were mainly due to the tightening of global crude supplies as a result of the widening geopolitical tensions in the Middle East with the most current involving both Israel and Iran.
Today’s increases are by far the highest price movements on diesel and kerosene products this year.
Data from the Department of Energy (DOE) as of April 2 showed Manila price per liter of gasoline (RON91) stood at P65.05, diesel at P61.20 and kerosene at P73.54.
DOE data also showed year-to-date adjustments as of the same date stood at a total net increase of P8.20 per liter for gasoline and P4.50 per liter for diesel.
Reuters reported that as of Friday last week, Brent crude settled at $91.17 a barrel while US West Texas Intermediate crude finished at $86.91 per barrel.
The report said Iran which is the third-largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), has expressed intent to revenge against Israel for an attack that killed high-ranking Iranian military personnel.
Experts said a conflict between Israel and Iran could further complicate global crude supplies.
OPEC kept its oil supply policy unchanged last week while also pressing other member countries to increase compliance with the output cuts.
Meanwhile, Meralco said the P0.9879 per kilowatt hour (kWh) reduction brings overall power rates to P10.9518 from last month’s P11.9397 per kWh.
The substantial reduction in the overall electricity rate bringing the year-to-date adjustment to a net decrease of P0.3066 per kWh.
It is also equivalent to a reduction of around P198 in the total bill of residential customers consuming 200 kWh monthly.
“The significant reduction in this month’s overall electricity rate more than wiped out the increases in power rates for the first quarter of the year. Despite the rate reduction, Meralco continues to encourage its customers to continue practicing energy efficiency especially during summer when consumption historically increases anywhere from 10 to 40 percent due to warmer temperatures,” said Joe Zaldarriaga, Meralco vice president and head of corporate communications, in a statement.
Meralco said the overall rate decrease was primarily due to sharp decreases in both generation and transmission charges.
The generation charge fell P0.3613 per kWh due to lower costs from independent power producers (IPPs) and power supply agreements (PSAs) that offset the increase in Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) charges.
The transmission charge,went down by P0.4665 per kWh following the Energy Regulatory Commission’s suspension of settlements in the Reserve Market that drove the significant increase in ancillary service charges in the March electricity rates.
Meralco’s taxes and other charges also registered a total decrease of P0.1601 per kWh.
Meralco said it 46 percent of it total power requirements for the month was from PSAs; 29 percent from IPPs and 25 percent from WESM.
