Meralco generation charge down by P0.05

Business Mirror
MONDAY, 09 JANUARY 2012 22:18 PAUL ANTHONY A. ISLA / REPORTER


HOUSEHOLDS will pay less for their electric consumption this month.


The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the largest power retailer, on Monday announced it has lowered its generation charge by 5-centavos per kilowatt-hour (kWh).


Meralco said in a statement that the generation charge would be reduced to P5.46/kWh this month from P5.51/kWh in December.


It attributed the cutdown to the reduction in the price of power purchased from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).


Meralco said WESM prices fell by P1.85/kWh to P7.14/kWh in the December supply month from P9/kWh in the November 2011 supply month.


The power firm said there has been a gradual decline in spot-market prices after the normalization of the generation supply situation in the Luzon grid.


In ate October 2011, the grid experienced generation-capacity constraints following the maintenance shutdown of the Malampaya natural gas pipeline.


Meralco said total energy consumption also went down slightly due to cooler temperatures in December.


The reduction in WESM prices offset slightly higher prices from the independent power producers (IPPs), whose prices went up by an average of 13 centavos due to a lowering of their dispatch level to 78.1 percent in the December supply month from a high of 94.5 percent in November.


Meralco noted that National Power Corp.’s (Napocor) charges remained stable.


Forty-two percent of Meralco’s power requirements in December came from the IPPs, 46 percent from Napocor and 12 percent from the WESM.


Meralco said the cost of power sold by the generating companies can move from month to month based on many factors beyond its control, such as fuel prices, foreign exchange rate and WESM prices, to name a few.


Meralco also said that should there be adjustments in the cost of generation from its various suppliers, it would reflect these changes in the customers’ bills, such as this month’s reduction.


The generation charge, which is the electricity bill’s biggest component, averages almost 60 percent of the customer’s average monthly power bill, which goes directly to Meralco’s power suppliers.