Meralco customers to see 28 centavos Napocor increase in bills

Business World Online
Posted on March 30, 2012 06:36:47 PM


CUSTOMERS OF distribution utility Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) will not see the full impact of the price adjustments of National Power Corp. (Napocor) as it only sources a portion of its power from the agency, the company said in a statement on Friday.
The diluted increase will join the recovery for local franchise taxes paid by the distribution utility.


Meralco said its consumers will see an increase of P0.28 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for residential customers instead of an P0.69/kWh hike in Luzon "since the distribution utility sources only a portion of its power requirements from Napocor."


"Meralco sources its power requirements from several generators, with Napocor being one of them. We at Meralco continuously try to come up with strategies to obtain the right mix of power from these different sources that will result in the most reliable and reasonably priced power for our customers," said Lawrence S. Fernandez, Meralco Head of Utility Economics in the statement.


On Wednesday, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) approved an increase of P0.69/kWh for Luzon based on recovery for generation and foreign exchange adjustments.


The ERC also approved the recovery of Meralco's local franchise tax that it paid to different cities and provinces.


The utility was allowed by the ERC to raise rates by up to a little over four centavos in order to recover P2.87 billion in local franchise taxes paid from 1993-2004.


Electricity bills will go up in the provinces of Bulacan, Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal and the cities of San Jose del Monte, Batangas, San Pablo, Tagaytay, Lucena, Mandaluyong, Marikina, Quezon, Caloocan, Pasay, Las Piñas, Manila and Pasig.


The company said it will also file for a petition "for the verification of its Maximum Average Price for regulatory year 2013."


The verification will determine if previously approved rates are still valid.


Meralco ended 2011 with a 22.5% growth in its core net income to P14.9 billion from P12.2 billion.


Its reported net income grew 36.6% to P13.2 billion in 2011 from P9.7 billion.


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Shares of Meralco closed at P262, up 1.95% from its previous close of P257 a piece. -- Emilia Narni J. David