The Manila Electric Co. (MERALCO) announced a P0.0278 per kilowatt hour (kWh) increase in power rates for the month of March, entailing a P8.8901 per kWh electricity charge compared to last month’s P8.8623 per kWh rate.
Transmission charges, taxes, and other charges registered a decrease of P0.1264 per kWh.
“‘Yung transmission, tumaas din nang bahagya ng P0.03, taxes went down by almost P0.12, and the other charges as well. Halos they cancel each other out kaya nagkaroon na lang ng very, very slight, close to P0.03 per kWh increase,” Meralco Public Information Office Head Joe Zaldarriaga said.
The minimal increase is also caused by the higher generation charge, mitigated by a refund of over-recoveries in pass-through charges and one-time adjustments in the Universal Charge-NPC Stranded Contract Costs (UC-SCC).
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) directed the firm to implement a P0.1453 per kWh rate reversal in UC-SCC representing collections in excess of the amount due to Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM).
“Sa generation, it’s actually an additional collection for under-recovery of P0.046, sa transmission, it’s P0.05 na ibabalik, system loss, ganon din, lifeline subsidy, and senior citizen subsidy, in total of P0.549 na ibabalik po sa customers,” said Zaldarriaga.
In related news, charges from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) increased, amounting to P1.0479 per kWh, driven by higher power demand and tighter supply conditions in the Luzon grid. Average capacity on outage increased in February with the scheduled maintenance of some power plants, and the share of WESM to MERALCO’s supply needs went down to 17 percent.
On the other hand, cost of power decreased from Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and Power Supply Agreements (PSAs) by P0.0323 per kWh and P0.2950 per kWh, respectively.