Monday, March 12, 2018

Meralco rates up again by P0.85/kwh this month



Updated March 10, 2018, 11:39 AM By Myrna Velasco 

For the second time this quarter, the power rates of Manila Electric Company (Meralco) jumped again by P0.85 per kilowatt-hour (kwh) this billing cycle mainly due to the hike in generation charge.
The utility firm announced that this month’s power rate hike should have been at a higher rate of P0.97 per kwh, but it opted to defer the P0.12 per kwh again to cushion the impact on consumers.
With the deferred portion in the tariff increase, households within the base level of 200-kwh consumption will have a tempered adjustment of P170 in their overall electric bills.
The climb in several cost components spiked overall billed rate to customers at P10.32 per kwh from the previous billing month’s P9.47 per kwh, according to the utility firm.
Meralco indicated that the generation charge is higher by P0.7424 per kwh, but on the decision to stagger the rate hike anew, only P0.6414 per kwh will be reflected this month.
“The difference shall be implemented in the April billing,” Meralco said, while expounding that the generation charge component in this billing month jumped to P5.2962 per kwh from the February level of P4.6548 per kwh.
The utility firm indicated that final settlement prices billed to it by the market operator of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) rose significantly by P1.4441 per kwh, “because of tighter supply conditions in Luzon.” The level of power procurement from the spot market had was at 19-percent in the last supply month.
Beyond the generation charge, the other cost components that moved up in this billing month were those of the transmission charge to residential customers by P0.0503 per kwh due to the ancillary services costs of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines; and compounded by the P0.1583 per kwh hike in taxes and other charges.
Demand-wise, Meralco noted that a 366 megawatts uptick was registered in February supply month, with it attributing primarily to “warmer temperatures.”
That phenomenon had unfortunately been aggravated by the 1,000MW of capacity taken out from the system due to scheduled maintenance shutdowns of power plants, hence, straining electricity supply in the country’s major power grid.
On supply sourcing, Meralco noted that its power purchase from power supply agreements (PSAs) was softened by P0.3464 per kwh for a majority share of 46-percent; while IPP procurements were higher by P0.2814 per kwh with a share of 35-percent.
The consumers’ burden over higher power bills though may still not end within this month, with the summer months likely pulling up demand that in turn could also be exerting pressure on prices, hence, Meralco has been appealing to customers to be prudent in their electricity usage.

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