September power rates continue to decline

Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) announced another downward adjustment of power rates as the overall rate for a typical household decreased by P0.0623 a kilowatt-hour (kWh) from last month’s P8.4911 to P8.4288 a kWh this September.

This is equivalent to a reduction of around P12 in the total bill of residential custo­mers consuming 200 kWh, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

From P4.1241 a kWh in August, the generation charge decreased by P0.0381 a kWh to P4.0860 this September. This is the sixth straight month of generation rate reduction.

Due to the reduced po­wer demand in its service area during the community quarantine period, Meralco continued to invoke the force majeure provision in some of its power supply agreements (PSAs).

This September, the force majeure claim totaled about P463 million, equivalent to customer savings of P0.1710 a kWh in the generation charge.

Without the force majeure claims, the generation charge and the total rate would have increased by 13 centavos and 14 centavos a kWh, respectively. For the past 6 months, the savings from force majeure claims totaled around P2.4 billion.

PSA charges decreased by P0.3032 a kWh due to Meralco’s force majeure claim. PSAs accounted for 54.8 percent of Meralco’s energy requirement

Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) charges were P0.0147 a kWh lower this month due to the decrease in Luzon demand as some areas, including Metro Manila and adjacent provinces, returned to modified enhanced community quarantine from Aug. 4 to 18. The share of WESM to Meralco’s supply needs was 11.6 percent.

Meanwhile, purchases from independent power producers (IPPs) inched up by P0.0601 a kWh mainly due to lower average plant dispatch. IPPs accounted for 33.6 percent of Meralco’s total supply.

Transmission charge for residential customers registered a slight reduction of P0.0112 a kWh due to lower ancillary service charges. There was also a net decrease of P0.0130 a kWh in taxes and other charges.

Collection of the universal charge-environmental charge amounting to P0.0025 a kWh remains suspended as directed by the Energy Regulatory Commission.

Meralco’s distribution, supply and metering charges, meanwhile, have remained unchanged for 62 months after these registered reductions in July 2015.