Meralco: Power rates going down a 5th month

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) on Monday said overall rates for its residential customers dropped a fifth straight month in September because of higher power supply.

In an advisory, Meralco said its rates will go down by 57 centavos per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to P8.55 per kWh.

For a typical household consuming 200 kWh, the electricity bill will go down by P114 compared to August.

The reduction in the overall rates was primarily due to the generation charge, which decreased by 42 centavos per kWh to P4.13 compared to last month.

The generation charge and the overall rate were the lowest since January 2010, Meralco said.

Several large generating units, namely, South Premiere Power (Ilijan), Sem-Calaca Power, Quezon Power and Therma Luzon (Pagbilao) improved their dispatch levels in August after experiencing outages during the July supply month, Meralco said.

In particular, Ilijan increased its dispatch level from 48 percent in the July supply month to 81 percent in August, Meralco said.

Ilijan 1 was on scheduled maintenance in July—affecting 27 days—while Ilijan 2 was derated during the Malampaya gas restriction from July 13 to 16.

Lower fuel costs from Malampaya brought down prices from the First Gen plants (Sta. Rita and San Lorenzo), Meralco said.

Apart from the lower generation cost, adjustments from prior months (e.g., cover cost deductions from Malampaya, following the supply restrictions from previous months) helped further bring down the generation charge for September.

Charges from the wholesale electricity spot market (WESM) registered a “negligible” increase of more than half a centavo (0.6 centavo per kWh), Meralco said.

The transmission charge was also lower by 4 centavos per kWh due to lower power delivery service and ancillary service charges.

Taxes and other charges likewise went down by P0.05 per kWh and P0.06 per kWh, respectively.