Transmission charge up 11.5% in April electricity bill
Consumers will have to brace themselves for higher power bills in April.
MANILA, Philippines – Transmission charges for March, which will appear in this month’s electric bills, have increased by 11.5 percent due to higher ancillary service costs, according to the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).
In a briefing on Tuesday, the grid operator said overall transmission charges had jumped to P1.5240 per kilowatt hour (kWh) from P1.3668 per kWh in February.
It said the more expensive transmission rates could be pinned on higher ancillary service charges, or the cost of electricity sourced from the reserve market and providers with bilateral contracts with the NGCP when supplies are thin.
READ: Meralco rate rises 72 centavos/kwh in April bill
Utilizing ancillary services is necessary to ensure uninterrupted electricity delivery.
The NGCP said ancillary services in the covered billing period had climbed by 16 percent to P0.8094 per kWh from P0.6975 per kWh in February.
The cost includes the third tranche of the collection of 70 percent of the ancillary service charge that was not billed by generators from early last year.
The Energy Regulatory Commission earlier gave its go-signal for power generators to recover a total of P3.05 billion — the remaining 70-percent reserve trading amount. It earlier suspended the collection following the spike in power prices.
Transmission wheeling rates, or what the NGCP charges to consumers for delivering power, increased by 4.81 percent from P0.5252 per kWh.
“For the April 2025 bills of end consumers, NGCP charges only 55 centavos per kWh for the delivery of its services. The bulk of transmission charges is for AS, which is remitted directly to AS providers,” the NGCP said.
Manila Electric Co., the biggest power distributor in the Philippines, said last week that it would implement a 72-centavo increase per kWh in power rates. This brought the overall rate to P13.0127 per kWh this month from P12.2901 per kWh in March.
The company’s franchise area covers Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Rizal and select areas in Pampanga, Laguna, Batangas and Quezon.
