Meralco to hike power rates this month

Customers of Manila Electric Co., the country’s biggest power distributor, may expect higher power bills this month due to an increase in the cost of electricity sourced from the spot market.

“Initial results from the (wholesale electricity spot market) show an increase in generation prices,” said a source privy to Meralco data.

According to the source, the increase in WESM rates was due to the “deenergization of the Luzon-Visayas interconnection from October 8 to 13,” which resulted in the reduction of power supply coming from the Visayas grid.

The Leyte–Luzon HVDC link, a high voltage direct current transmission link between geothermal power plants on the island of Leyte and the southern part of Luzon, was deenergized due to annual preventive maintenance work on the converter station, the source said, citing the daily market update from the Philippine Electricity Market Corp., operator of the wholesale electricity spot market.

The source added that the maintenance work on the converter station took place just as some plants in Luzon experienced power outages.

The link begins at the Ormoc converter station in Leyte and ends at the Naga station in Camarines Sur.

During the same period, market prices also rose significantly, the source said. In particular, the load-weighted average price (LWAP) last month peaked at P13.60 per kilowatt-hour on October 10.

The electric utility has yet to announce the final generation charges for November.