Meralco hikes power rates by 43¢/kWh in November

Meralco, INQUIRER FILES

Customers of power distributor Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) may have to pay higher for their electricity bills this month due to an increase in the generation charge.

At a briefing Tuesday, the company said power rates would go up by P0.4274 per kilowatt hour (kWh), pushing the overall rate for a typical household to P11.8569 per kWh from the previous month’s P11.4295 per kWh.

READ: Power rate hike on the horizon

Households consuming 200 kWh would need to cough up an additional P85 to settle their bill for the month.

Meralco vice president and head of Corporate Communications Joe Zaldarriaga pinned the blame on higher generation charge, which went up by P0.2884 per kWh.

The official likewise noted a hike in the transmission charge, reaching P0.0724 per kWh, due to higher ancillary service charges from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market reserve market.

Zaldarriaga said that while power consumption usually drops during the colder months, activities related to holidays and festive events may jack up energy use.