Meralco to hike rates in Nov

Manila Electric Company (Meralco) will raise its rates this month by 47.17 centavos a kilowatt-hour, which will mean an increase of P94 in the monthly bill of a typical household.

The company said in a statement that an average household consuming 200 kWh would see an increase in its overall rate to P9.56 a kWh, from P9.09 per kWh last month.

This is the second month in a row that Meralco hiked its rates, after five consecutive months of price decreases.

Despite the adjustment, the company said the electricity rates this month were still almost P1 per kWh lower than the rates in April 2019.

Meralco attributed the latest price hike to the increase in generation charge, or the cost of the power generated and sold to the distribution utility.

From P4.54 a kWh last month, the generation charge for November increased to P5.03 a kWh, an increase of 49.11 centavos per kWh.

Charges from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM)—where electricity is traded as a commodity— rose by P3.8016 per kWh, driven by tighter supply in the Luzon grid.

National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) placed the grid on Yellow Alert on Oct. 14 and 15 due to forced outages of several power plants and the maintenance shutdown of the Malampaya natural gas facility from Oct. 12 to 15.