Power retailer Manila Electric Co. said overall electricity rates rose P0.0902 per kilowatt-hour this month, representing an increase of P18 in the monthly bill of a typical household consuming 200 kWh.
Meralco said the December rates slightly increased to P10.1803 per kWh this month from P10.0901 per kWh in November on higher charges of power suppliers.
Meralco’s generation charge increased P0.0578 per kWh in December to P5.3303 per kWh from P5.2725 per kWh last month.
“The increase is mainly the result of P0.5167 and P0.1783 per kWh increases in the cost of power from power supply agreements and independent power producers, respectively,” the company said.
Meralco said despite a stronger peso, PSA and IPP charges increased this month on lower average plant dispatch.
The San Lorenzo natural gas plant’s Modules 50 and 60 were on scheduled maintenance outage from Oct. 28 to Nov. 7 and Oct. 28 and Nov. 8, respectively.
Meralco sourced 42 percent and 38 percent from the PSAs and IPPs, respectively.
Cost of power sourced by Manila ElectricCo. from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market went down by P1.0268 per kWh with the improvement in the Luzon power supply situation and a lower demand for power in November.
WESM, the country’s trading floor of electricity, provided 20 percent of Meralco’s supply needs.
Transmission charge of residential customers slightly increased by P0.0169 per kWh. Meanwhile, taxes and other charges also went up P0.0155 per kWh this month.
Meralco’s distribution, supply, and metering charges were unchanged.
Meralco said it was not earning from the pass-through charges, such as the generation and transmission charges. Payment for the generation charge goes to the power suppliers, while payment for the transmission charge goes to the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines. Taxes and other public policy charges like the feed-in tariff-all rate are remitted to the government.
Meralco has over 6.5 million customers in its franchise area.