MERALCO rates drop in April

The Manila Electric Company (MERALCO) announced that the electricity rate for April will decrease by P0.9879 per kilowatt hour (kWh). This lowers the overall rate for a typical household from Php 11.9397 per kWh in March to Php 10.9518 per kWh.

This movement will amount to about Php 198 in the overall electricity bill for household users using 200 kWh. 

In a statement, MERALCO said that this reduction had cleared the upsurge since January of this year. This brought the year-to-date adjustment down to P0.3066 per kWh.

“The significant reduction in this month’s overall electricity rate more than wiped out the increases in power rates for the first quarter of the year. Despite the rate reduction, Meralco continues to encourage its customers to continue practicing energy efficiency especially during summer,” said MERALCO Vice President and Head of Corporate Communications Joe R. Zaldarriaga.

The generation charge also saw a reduction of P0.3613 per kWh. This was brought about by lower Power Supply Agreement (PSA) and Independent Power Producer (IPP) costs, which countered the increase in WESM (Wholesale Electricity Spot Market) fees. 

Rates from Independent Power Producers (IPPs) declined by P1.0701 per kWh, attributed to lower costs from First Gas plants. The decision not to use liquefied natural gas (LNG) at San Lorenzo and Sta. Rita contributed to the decrease, along with ongoing efforts to control incremental Malampaya gas costs for Sta. Rita under its new Gas Sale and Purchase Agreement (GSPA).

Because of the reduction in fuel expenses associated with the emergency PSAs with MERALCO and San Buenaventura Power Ltd. (SBPL), charges from PSAs also fell by P0.5733 per kWh. 

Meanwhile, WESM charges surged by P1.0114 per kWh. This was due to the constricted availability of supply in the Luzon grid as average demand climbed up to 618 MW while average capacity on outage also scaled to 473 MW. 

Transmission charges decreased by P0.4665 per kWh due to the suspension of settlements in the Reserve Market by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).