A reduction in November electricity bills is expected for the customers of the Manila Electric Co (MERALCO) – 46 days before Christmas.
Electricity rates this month went down by P0.0781 per kilowatt – hour (kWh) to P8.26 per kWh, the fourth consecutive reduction this year and the lowest since January 2010, Meralco announced.
“The reduction is mainly due to the downward movement in the generation charge,” the power distributor said.
This month’s decrease in terms of household consumption is around P15.62 for 200 kWh, P23.44 for 300 kWh, P31.26 per kWh and P39.07 per kWh.
Meanwhile, generation charges this month went down by P0.0502 per kWh to P3.8436 per kWh was due to the lower charges from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM)
WESM prices decreased by P0.2756 per kWh, Meralco said. The company sourced 20.1 percent of its power requirements from the spot market, versus last month’s 16.1 percent share.
The decline in the spot market is an offset of the increase in the Independent Power Producer (IPP) and Power Supply Agreement (PSA) costs due to higher coal and natural gas prices and low dispatch.
“Coal prices in the region continued to rise from $67.41 per metric ton (MT) in August 2016 to $72.7 per MT in September,” Meralco said. The cost of power from PSA plants rose by P0.0164 per kWh with higher fuel costs.
The cost of power from IPPs also went up by P0.0549 per kWh due to the scheduled outage and lower dispatch of San Lorenzo plant, and the higher natural gas price.
As for transmission charges, a reduction of P0.0177 per kWh will reflect this month because of the lower ancillary charge differential charged by the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines in Luzon.
Ancillary charges support the capacity and energy transmission from resources to loads while maintaining reliable operation of the transmission system.
Meralco’s distribution, supply and metering charges remain unchanged.