Danessa Rivera (The Philippine Star)
- January 6, 2020 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Manila
Electric Co. (Meralco) expects a decrease in power rates this month on the back
of lower capacity fees from its suppliers.
Meralco has yet to release final
figures, but the official announcement of final figures would probably be next
week.
However, January power rates are
seen to have a downward trajection, resulting in lower power rates for the
month, Meralco public information office head Joe Zaldarriaga said.
“As in previous years, during the
month of January, lower PSA charges are typically brought about by a reduction
in capacity fees as a result of the annual reconciliation of outage allowances
done at the end of each year under the PSAs approved by the Energy Regulatory
Commission (ERC),” he said.
As an example, in January 2019, the
early completion of annual capacity payment for Sual Unit 1, Ilijan, Pagbilao
Unit 1 and PEDC resulted in savings immediately passed on to consumers by way
of lower electricity rates.
“We are hopeful a similar situation
will occur once again this January 2020, as with previous years,” Zaldarriaga
said.
In December, Meralco rates rose for
the third straight month on higher generation charge pulled up mainly by
wholesale electricity spot market (WESM) charges.
The overall rate for typical
household consuming 200-kilowatt-hour (kwh) increased by P0.3044 kwh to P9.8623
per kwh in December from P9.5579 per kwh in November.
WESM charges increased by P1.0799
per kWh driven by tighter supply conditions in the Luzon grid.
Meralco said the average capacity on
outage in November increased by 525 (megawatts) MW because of scheduled and
forced outages of some power plants and the natural gas supply restriction of
Malampaya onshore gas plant implemented by operator Shell Philippines
Exploration B.V. (SPEX) from November 10 to 14.
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