Meralco cuts power rates in February

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — The Manila Electric Company (Meralco) will slash power rates this February because of reduced generation charges.

Meralco said Tuesday that the generation charge lowered by P0.2305 per kWh from P5.4262 in January to P5.1957 in February because of decreased charges from Independent Power Producers (IPP) and Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), “which more than offset an increase in the rate from Power Supply Agreements (PSA).”

Thus, households consuming approximately 200 kWh of electricity may expect around P24 cut from their total bill this month. Meralco also slashed power rates in January.

“Charges from the IPPs went down by P0.3395 per kWh due to higher plant dispatch of Quezon Power and First Gas-Sta. Rita. Quezon Power resumed normal operations in the January supply month after experiencing some outages and deration in December, while First Gas – Sta. Rita’s output increased following the completion of the scheduled maintenance outage of Module 10 in December,” Meralco said in a statement.

“The IPP charges also reflected a reimbursement from SPEX to First Gas covering a portion of incremental fuel cost incurred in relation to the use of liquid fuel during unplanned Malampaya gas supply restrictions,” it added.

The movements were able to balance the swell in Malampaya natural gas prices “resulting from its quarterly, repricing, and an increase in coal prices,” the power company also explained.

On the other hand, WESM rates dipped by P13.1277 per kWh due to the significant decrease in Meralco’s WESM purchases.

The tight supply condition due to forced outages resulted in sustained high WESM prices, which prompted the imposition of the secondary price cap 28.37 percent of the time.

The PSA rate, however, grew by P0.1631 per kWh “owing to lower demand that led to lower excess energy deliveries, which are priced at a discount, from AC Energy, San Miguel Energy Corp. (Sual), and South Premiere Power Corp. (Ilijan). The lower average PSA dispatch, with San Buenaventura on scheduled maintenance until January 19, also contributed to the rate increase,” Meralco noted.

The IPPs, PSAs, and WESM gave 52.2 percent, 47.4 percent, and 0.4 percent, respectively, of Meralco’s energy requirement for January.

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