Meralco rates may rise slightly due to P944M under-recoveries

MANILA, Philippines—Meralco customers may have to brace for a possible, slight increase in electricity prices this month as the Energy Regulatory Commission allowed the utility to collect P944 million in under-recoveries.

In its decision, the ERC explained that the P944 million being recovered represented the amount of generation cost for the period January 26 to February 25 last year that was not collected by Meralco during the March 2010 billing, plus carrying charges.

This amount was equivalent to an additional monthly charge of 3.06 centavos per kilowatt-hour which will be collected starting the next billing cycle.

The impact of this additional charge for this month, however, has yet to be determined as Meralco has yet to issue within the week the generation charge for September.