POWER RATE HIKE With electricity rates going up this month for customers of Manila Electric Co. the cheaper way to enjoy twinkling Christmas lights may be to go to attractions like this one at The Lights of Christmas Park in Taguig City. 鈥擭i帽o Jesus Orbeta
MANILA, Philippines 鈥� About 8 million customers of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) may now be second-guessing whether or not they should use as many lights as they want for their Christmas decorations after the power distributor announced an increase in its electricity rates this December.
Just like in November, Meralco attributed a higher generation charge to the upward adjustment in its power rates this month which reached P0.1048 per kilowatt hour (kWh).
This brought the overall rate for a typical household to P11.9617 per kWh from P11.8569 per kWh last month.
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Factors
According to Meralco vice president and corporate communications head Joe Zaldarriaga, average households consuming 200 kWh monthly may see an increase of P21 in their electricity bill this December.
鈥淭his month鈥檚 increase was largely due to higher generation charge, which goes to our power suppliers,鈥� Zaldarriaga said.
Meralco鈥攚hich earns from distribution, supply, and metering charges鈥攕aid the generation charge went up by P0.1839 per kWh, mainly due to costs linked to the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) and Power Supply Agreements (PSAs).
Amid tight supply conditions at the spot market caused by the increase in outage capacity, WESM charges rose by P0.2531 per kWh.
The weakening of the peso against the dollar also resulted in a P0.1050 per kWh rise in charges from PSAs, as some of them are dollar-denominated.
On the other hand, charges from Independent Power Producers (IPPs) slightly fell by P0.0410 per kWh.
Breakdown
WESM, PSAs and IPPs accounted for 31.4 percent, 40.2 percent, and 28.3 percent, respectively, of Meralco鈥檚 total energy requirement for the period.
Transmission charges also declined by P0.0940 per kWh due to lower ancillary service charges from the reserve market, a platform industry players could tap or rely on for additional supply should a large generating unit fail to run at full capacity.
As for Meralco鈥檚 distribution charge, it has remained flat since August 2022, the power distributor said.
Zaldarriaga, meanwhile, reminded consumers to be on alert for a fire-free holiday.
鈥淲ith various festivities and celebrations, we encourage all our customers to practice electrical safety to avoid any possible untoward incident. Rest assured that our crews are ready to respond to any concern on electricity service 24/7,鈥� he said.