Meralco Offers Alternative Discount Rate

Manila Bulletin

By MYRNA M. VELASCO

November 18, 2012, 5:13pm

With the expiration of the ecozone rate program (ERP) next month, power utility giant Manila Electric Company (Meralco) is offering an alternative rate design that is akin to giving discounted rates to its large customers, primarily the industries.

Meralco senior vice president Alfredo S. Panlilio noted that this will serve as an update in the  company’s existing time-of-use (TOU) pricing scheme and to be called the ‘peak/off-peak program’ or POP.

Panlilio has emphasized that “Meralco customers with consumption levels of at least 500kWh per month and at least 5kW average demand for non-residential customers are eligible to enroll under the POP program.”

He reiterated that “this would provide an alternative rate option to customers in the NPC TOU and the ecozone rate program…this is aligned with the call of the times to make Philippine industries more competitive.”

The Meralco official nevertheless emphasized that the rate cut may not be as big as the more than P1.00 per kilowatt hour (kWh) discount in the ERP, but this is still seen helping industries wade through the “high rates regime” in the Philippine electricity sector.

Panlilio said the alternative POP rate design will be subject to approval by the Energy Regulatory Commission.

“With the new POP rates, we expect customers shifting to this new program to experience savings of up to 10% on the average versus blended rates in their monthly bills depending on their peak and off-peak consumption,” he further explained.

The Meralco executive added that a great number of their large customers are located inside and outside the export processing zones and they have been traditionally availing of “special rates” via the Customer Choice Program (CCP), time-of-use rates and the ecozone rate program which were collaborated with other stakeholders in the industry.

“We will never be able to go to the level of the ERP, but hopefully we’re bringing them an option that’s better than blended (rate),” he said.

Given the much-anticipated incursion of open access in the deregulated power industry, distribution utilities like Meralco would have to be very innovative and price-competitive in their service offers so they can sustain patronage of their customers.

With open access and retail competition, large end-users within the 1.0-megawatt peak demand threshold can already shift to other suppliers, hence, that era is seen as the one moving the industry forward into full competition.    source