INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
Customers of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) can expect their power bills to increase by 29 centavos per kilowatt-hour (kWh) this month due largely to a hike in the generation charge.
This meant that a household consuming 200 kWh in a month can expect an increase of P58 in the electricity bill in July.
According to Meralco, the increase in generation charge was “primarily due to the higher charges from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), which went up by P4.49 per kWh after dipping to PhP3.97 per kWh last month. This was the result of higher generation capacity on outage during the June supply month compared to the previous month, resulting in five instances of yellow alerts in June.”
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The transmission charge meanwhile declined by 8 centavos per kWh, mainly due to lower ancillary charges. Taxes and other charges rose by 1 centavo and 2 centavos respectively, following the increase in generation charge.
Meralco added that its distribution, supply, and metering charges remain unchanged after it registered a reduction a year ago. Meralco reiterated that it does not earn from the pass-through charges, such as the generation and transmission charges. Payment for the generation charge goes to the power suppliers, while payment for the transmission charge goes to the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP). CDG/rga
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