Power retailer Manila Electric Co. said Thursday electricity rates will increase by an average of P0.4717 per kilowatt-hour in November or around P94 in a typical household’s monthly bill.
Meralco said the power rate for a typical household consuming 200 kWh increased to P9.5579 per kWh this month from P9.0862 per kWh in October.
Generation charges reached P5.0317 per kWh in November, up by P0.4911 per kWh from P4.5406 per kWh last month. Charges at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, the country’s trading floor of electricity, increased by P3.8016 per kWh on tighter supply condition in the Luzon grid.
Grid operator National Grid Corporation of the Philippines placed the grid on yellow alert on Oct. 14 and 15 following the forced outages of several power plants and the maintenance shutdown of the Malampaya natural gas facility from Oct. 12 to 15.
Meralco said WESM charges also rose as the net settlement surplus refund ordered by the Energy Regulatory Commission on Aug. 1 was significantly lower for November at around P21 million.
The ERC-ordered NSS refund in September and October totaled P1 billion which contributed to the lower generation charges in the two prior months. The NSS refund is expected to end this month.
Meralco sourced 16 percent of its supply needs from the WESM in October.
Meanwhile, Meralco said the cost of power from the independent power producers and power supply agreements decreased by P0.0476 per kWh and P0.2643 per kWh, respectively.
Transmission charges also went down by P0.0767 per kWh as a result of lower NGCP ancillary service charges. Meanwhile, taxes and other charges increased by P0.0573 per kWh.
Meralco said its own distribution, supply and metering charges were unchanged for 52 straight months.