By Juzel L. Danganan
MANILA, Oct. 7 (PNA) – Consumers can again expect lower electricity bills as the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) on Wednesday announced a Php0.13 per kilowatt hour (kWh) rate cut this October.
With the drop, the firm also said the total cost per kWh amounted to Php 8.42 per kWh, which the firm stressed is the lowest since January 2010.
According to a statement, Meralco further said households with a consumption of 200 kWh will have a total bill decrease of Php 26 compared with the bill last month.
Meralco noted that the generation charge pulled down the bills, which was slashed by 14 centavos per kWh to Php 3.99 per kWh. Similarly, Meralco said October had the lowest generation charge since January 2010.
Meralco explained it had a lower bill of Php 3.71 per kWh from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) due to its lessened reliability on the electricity market and more on its contracted power plants and suppliers.
With the lower capacity supplied from the WESM, independent power producer administrators (IPPAs) and power supply agreements (PSAs) were the major sources of Meralco for power in September.
IPPAs hiked their charge by Php 0.08 per kWh, while PSAs had an increase of 18 centavos per kWh.
”Contributing also to the increase in IPP and PSA rates was their unusually low rates in the August supply month as they included adjustments from prior months such as cover cost deductions from Malampaya following the supply restrictions from previous months,” Meralco added.
For its power supply last month, Meralco sourced both 47 percent from PSAs and IPPs, while it sourced six percent from the WESM.
For the other bill entries, Meralco said the transmission charge had increased by Php 0.01 per kWh due to a higher ancillary charge.
System loss and subsidies also decreased by Php 0.01 per kWh, but was accompanied by an increase in taxes amounting to Php 0.01 per kWh.
Meralco further said its distribution charge had remained at its rate since July, when the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) approved their petition to lower the rate.
The distribution utility further stressed it does not earn from pass-on charges, namely the generation and transmission charge, as it goes to power suppliers and the grid-operator National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP). (PNA)