Meralco power rates up 3¢/kWh in August

Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) consumers may see a slight increase in their electricity bills this month, the power distributor giant said Monday.

At a briefing, the company said it would impose a minimal upward adjustment of P0.0327 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in power rates, pushing the overall rate to P11.6339 per kWh from July’s P11.6012 per kWh.

This means that residential customers consuming 200 kWh can expect an increase of around P7 in their power bills.

Meralco put the blame on the higher transmission charge, with an increase reaching P0.1086 per kWh.

The generation charge, meanwhile, was reduced by P0.0503 per kWh. The reduction, however, was not enough to offset the higher transmission charge.

It said the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) charges for August went up by P0.5940 per kWh as it would collect the third of four installments of deferred costs ordered by the energy regulator.

Meralco Vice President and Head of Corporate Communications Joe R. Zaldarriaga said consumers could expect lower electricity bills by October as the collection of deferred WESM costs would end by September.