Meralco rates continue to decline

Customers of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) will see their power rates decrease this month by P0.0216 a kilowatt-hour (kWh), the private utility said in a statement on Monday.

Meralco said the overall rate of a typical household declined to P8.7252 a kWh this June from P8.7468 last May. This, the company said, was equivalent to a reduction of around P4 in the total bill of residential customers consuming 200 kWh.

With three straight months of generation rate reduction and a total rate decrease of more than a peso a kWh since the start of the year, this month’s total rate is also significantly lower than that of June 2019, which was P10.0918 a kWh, Meralco said.

This month’s total rate is also the lowest since February 2018, the company added. From P4.3848 a kWh last May, the generation charge decreased by P0.0435 a kWh to P4.3413 this June.

“Because of the very significant reduction in power demand in its service area during the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) and Modified ECQ period, Meralco invoked the Force Majeure provision in its Power Supply Agreements (PSAs) for the duration of the lockdown,” Meralco said.

Force Majeure is a french phrase that essentially refers to an event that could neither be reasonably expected or controlled. This removes liability from an unfulfilled obligation.

In this case, Meralco invoked the provision so that consumers would have to pay a cheaper generation charge since there was weaker demand during the lockdown. INQ