MANILA, Philippines?Customers of Manila Electric Co., the country?s biggest power distributor, may have to brace for ?much higher? electricity prices this month, according to a company official.

Ivanna de la Peña, Meralco vice president for utility economics, explained that a bigger increase in the generation charge for March could be expected due to a hike in the cost of power supplied by generation companies.

In a phone interview, De la Peña said the final generation charge would be announced within the week.

As of the February billing month, the generation charge had risen to P4.9303 per kilowatt-hour, up P1.01 per kWH from the previous month.

Meralco currently sources its power requirements from state-run National Power Corp., the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market and from its independent power producers (IPPs), namely, the 500-megawatt San Lorenzo and 1,000-MW Sta. Rita power plants in Batangas, both of which are operated by the Lopez-led First Gas Corp. and Quezon Power Ltd. Co.

De la Peña said a higher generation charge for March could be attributed to the tight power supply and higher WESM prices, and the fact the summer season had begun.

De la Peña also noted that the price of power from its IPPs would be more expensive since they had been running on condensate fuel since last month.

The power plants actually use natural gas from the Malampaya gas project in offshore Palawan. However, the Malampaya facility has been shut down since Feb. 10 for maintenance.