The Manila Electric Co. (MERALCO) announced a Php 0.7067 per kilowatt-hour (kwh) decrease in its power rates for the month of July, pulling down the overall rates to Php 9.7545 per kwh.
This would mean that a residential customer consuming an average of 200 kwh would have a decrease of Php 141 in the total bill for the month of July.
MERALCO’s overall rate was pushed downward by the Php 21.77 billion refund order issued by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) in June. The refund is equivalent to Php 0.8656 per kwh and will last for a period of 12 months or until the amount is fully refunded.
“As a highly regulated entity, Meralco’s rates undergo a review and confirmation process to make sure they are fair and reasonable. The immediate implementation of the ERC Decision was able to more than offset the impact of higher generation charge this month to the benefit of our customers,” Meralco Head of Regulatory Management Atty. Jose Ronald Valles said in a statement.
Generation charges for the month of July went up by Php 0.2166 to Php 6.5590 per kwh from last month due to the Php 3.96 per kwh increase from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) and Php 0.32 per kwh increase from power supply agreements (PSAs) charges. This was only offset by the Php 0.47 decrease from independent power producers (IPP) charges.
