Domestic pump prices may go up by up to P1.30 per liter for diesel and gasoline by P0.20 per liter next week to reflect the movement of prices in the world oil market, industry sources told the Standard on Friday.
This developed as the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) said consumers in Metro Manila and neighboring provinces are in for higher electricity rates this month, with a final figure to be announced next week.
Meralco Regulatory Affairs head Ronald Valles said that owing to the Malampaya natural gas shutdown last February, power plants that run on natural gas had to use more expensive fuel.
Electricity prices in the spot market also rose due to tight supply, he added.
On oil, the industry source told the Standard: “As of Thursday, the indicative movement on pump prices next week computed based on this week’s first four days Mean of Platts Singapore and forex average versus last week’s full week MOPS and forex average is a possible increase of P1.20 to P1.30 per liter for diesel and possible increase of P0.10 to P0.20 per liter for gasoline.”
Department of Energy director Rodela Romero confirmed the possible oil price hike next week “due to a sign of a strong economic rebound of top crude importer, China; and easing worries of aggressive US interest rate increases.”
There’s also “Russia’s plan to deepen oil production cut,” Romero said.
On Feb. 28, the country’s oil firms cut the price of kerosene by P1.80 per liter, diesel by P1.30 per liter, and gasoline by P0.70 per liter.
Valles said for the replacement fuel alone, the equivalent increase is around P0.70-P0.80 per kilowatt-hour but added this is not yet Meralco’s final computation for the overall adjustment for March.
Meralco plans to write the Energy Regulatory Commission to ask for advice on how to mitigate the impact on consumers, he added.
The company also intends to communicate with generators if they can stagger the collection of some charges to ease the impact on consumers.
Meanwhile, DOE undersecretary Alessandro Sales said during the two-day LPG Summit the promulgation of Republic Act No. 11592 or the “LPG Industry Regulation Act” on October 14, 2021 paved the way for additional mandates of the different government agencies involved in liquefied petroleum gas-related activities and concerns.
“This resulted in the issuance of additional guidelines and procedures for the enforcement of the said law such as the Guidelines on the Registration and Issuance of the License to Operate, Guidelines on LPG Cylinder Exchange and Swapping, Guidelines on LPG Administrative Cases, to name a few; and the crafting of Improvement Programs and Projects to further push forward the development of the LPG sector – all of which are intended to safeguard the consuming public,” Sales said.
With these developments in the LPG sector, the DOE and the industry need to continue efforts to be more perceptive of the demands of the LPG industry, he said.
“We, at the Department, will ensure proper facilitation and monitoring of the industry and guide the LPG Industry participants in understanding the objectives of the law for the benefit of our consumers,” Sales said.