A reduction in power rates will reflect on electricity bills this month, the Manila Electric Co. (MERALCO) announced on Monday.
August power rates went down by P0.11 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to P8.50 per kWh. This would mean a reduction of almost P22 for household electricity bills with an average consumption of 200 kWh.
The decrease mostly reflected on the generation charge, which went down by P0.20 per kWh from last month. Generation charge is now at P3.86 per kWh, which is lower by P0.69 than compared to the same period last year with P4.55 per kWh. This month’s generation charge is the second lowest since October in 2004.
Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) charges also decreased by P3.48 per kWh due to lower spot prices. A yellow alert was recorded for the July supply month on July 19, but no red alert has been recorded since June.
However, independent power producers (IPP)’s cost of power increased by P0.16 per kWh following the low dispatch of San Lorenzo and Santa Rita. Power Supply Agreement (PSA) costs only reflected a slight increase of P0.0002 per kWh. The share of PSAs and IPPs now stand at 49.3 percent and 40.3 percent.
Transmission charges also went up by P.08 per kWh, along with tax charges that reflected a slight increase of P0.01 per kWh.
Meralco’s distribution charges has remained unchanged for 13 months since their reduction in July 2015.
Meralco added that the company does not earn from pass-through charges, such as generation and transmission charges. Generation charges goes to power suppliers while transmission charges are received by the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).