Manila Electric Co. announced a power rate increase of P0.4183 per kilowatt-hour in June on higher prices at the spot market and with the completion of the last refund.
Meralco said the overall rate for a typical household went up to P11.9112 per kWh this month from P11.4929 per kWh in May.
The adjustment is equivalent to an increase of around P84 in the monthly electricity bill of Meralco residential customers.
Meralco spokesperson Joe Zaldarriaga said the completion of distribution-related refund of P0.8656 per kWh in May triggered the rate increase in June.
Meralco implemented four Distribution Rate True-Up adjustments from March 2021 to May 2023 totaling P48.3 billion which translated to about P1.8009-per-kWh refund for residential customers.
“These refunds benefitted Meralco’s customers over the past two years as these helped temper increases in electricity bills at a time of financial distress and uncertainty for many,” Meralco head of regulatory management office Jose Ronald Valles said.
Zaldarriaga said the lower generation charge tempered the impact of the high spot market prices and the refund completion.
The generation charge went down by P0.4195 per kWh from P7.6697 per kWh in May to P7.2502 per kWh in June on lower costs from Meralco’s power supply agreements and independent power producers.
Charges from Meralco’s PSAs and IPPs decreased by P0.5871 per kWh and P0.5854 per kWh, respectively, on improved average plant dispatch and lower coal prices.
These mitigated the P2.0187-per-kWh increase in Wholesale Electricity Spot Market charges due to tight supply conditions in Luzon.
Peak demand in May reached 12,431 MW, the highest on record. The grid was also placed on yellow and red alerts on May 8.
The persistently high spot prices triggered the imposition of the secondary price cap 28.28 percent of the time, compared to 22.16 percent in April.
Meralco sourced the bulk of its requirements from the PSAs last month. This was followed by IPPs at 38 percent and the WESM at 12 percent.
Meanwhile, Zaldarriaga said transmission and other charges registered a net decrease of P0.0278 per kWh.
The collection of the feed-In tariff allowance would remain suspended until the August billing month in accordance with the Energy Regulatory Commission resolution extending the collection suspension for another six months starting March 2023.
Meralco’s generation and transmission are paid to its power suppliers and the grid operator, respectively; while taxes, universal charges, and FIT-All are remitted to the government.
Meralco’s distribution charge, meanwhile, has not moved since August 2022.