(UPDATE) Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) customers will have to pay more for power this month after the distribution utility on Friday announced a P0.3297 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) increase.
With the overall rate now at P10.2769/kWh, up from P9.9472 last month, households consuming an average of 200 kWh monthly will have to pay an additional P66.
'This month's overall rate increase was mainly due to the completion of a distribution-related refund equivalent to P0.4669 per kWh for residential customers,' Meralco said in a statement.
Three ongoing refunds totaling P1.3340/kWh for residential customers continue to temper customers' monthly bills, it added.
'These are expected to be fully refunded by December 2022, January 2023 and May 2023 and the impact will subsequently be felt in the succeeding billing periods,' the utility continued.
A lower generation charge — down by P0.1942 to P6.7975/kWh from P6.9917 the previous month — mitigated the power rate hike, Meralco said.
Power supply agreement (PSA) charges also decreased by P0.2079/ kWh as the First Natgas-San Gabriel plant went back online on October 15 following a scheduled October 1-14 maintenance outage.
The strengthening of the peso, said to have affected 38 percent of PSA costs that were dollar-denominated, also contributed to the reduction.
Further pulling down the generation charge was a P1.3985/kWh reduction in Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) charges due to the Luzon grid's improved supply situation.
While average daily capacity on outage remained at the 3,900-MW level, reductions in both peak and average demand in November led to fewer impositions of a secondary price cap, which was triggered only 21 percent of the time versus October's 52 percent.
Independent Power Producer (IPP) charges, on the other hand, went up by P0.0545/kWh.
IPPs, PSAs, and the WESM respectively accounted for 41 percent, 52 percent, and seven percent of Meralco's total energy requirement for the period.
Meanwhile, the transmission charge for residential customers increased by P0.0753 per kWh due to higher National Grid Corporation of the Philippines ancillary service charges.
Taxes and other charges registered a net decrease of P0.0183/kWh mainly due to the absence of feed-in tariff allowance (FIT-All), which has been suspended for three months by the Energy Regulatory Commission in a bid to mitigate power rate hikes.
Meralco also noted that its distribution charge had not moved since a P0.0360 per kWh reduction for a typical residential customer beginning August 2022.