MANILA, Philippines - Electricity rates are estimated to go up this April, May and June, according to the generation charge estimates submitted by Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the country’s biggest power distributor, to the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
ERC executive director Saturnino Juan told The STAR in a telephone interview yesterday that based on Meralco’s estimates, the generation charge for April is projected to climb to P5.97 per kilowatt-hour from P5.21 per kwh in March.
Juan added that the generation charge will increase further to P7.69 per kwh in May and to P6.57 per kwh in June.
The generation charge is the cost of power purchased the previous month. It accounts for roughly 60 percent of the total electricity bill.
The estimates are contained in Meralco’s interim supply agreement with power generators for the period, which the ERC has to approve.
Meralco has yet to disclose final figures but it noted that rates could be higher if the power firm would source from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), the country’s trading floor for electricity.
Sought for comment, Meralco senior assistant vice president and utility economics head Larry Fernandez said the power distributor apprised regulators of the supply-demand outlook for the said months.
In March, electricity consumers saw a 45-centavo per kilowatt-hour reduction in rates on the back of lower power costs in February. The adjustment translated to a P90 reduction in the bill of a typical household using 200 kwh.
The lower electricity rates stemmed from a 33-centavo per kwh decrease in the generation charge to P5.21 per kwh in March from P5.54 per kwh in February.
This is also in contrast to the December and January generation charge of P9.10 per kwh and P10.23 per kwh, respectively.
Early this week, Meralco said it would source additional power from three gencos until June of this year to mitigate its exposure to the WESM.
Toward this end, Meralco signed separate interim power supply agreements with Toledo Power Co. for up to 28 megawatts (MW) and an option for additional nine MW and Panay Power Corp. for up to 27 MW both covering the period April 1 to June 30.
In addition, Meralco also signed an agreement with 1590 Energy Corporation for up to 140 MW from the latter’s Bauang power plant.
Default solution
Militant party-list group Bayan Muna announced yesterday that it would question before the Supreme Court (SC) Meralco’s new power rate increase filings for the months of April, May and June.
It was upon the group’s petition that the SC stopped last December Meralco’s P4.15 per kwh increase. The case is still pending before the high court, which is expected to issue a ruling shortly.
Rep. Neri Colmenares said the increases are most likely the result of the same fraudulent pricing that brought about the unprecedented power rate hike in December.
“We will not allow these increases to be passed on to customers. We will ensure that they will not be burdening the public again just like they did in November and December,” he said.
“It seems that power rate increase is the default solution for Meralco and even the Department of Energy (DOE) every time there is an increase in the demand for electricity. All they think about is how to extract money from consumers and not how to serve them better,” he said.
He pointed out that the DOE and the ERC should be blamed for December’s P4.15 adjustment as they were caught sleeping on the job.
Had concerned citizens not complained, customers would have already paid for the huge increase, he said.
The ERC has found prices in December to be “not rational, reasonable and competitive” and voided Meralco’s P4.15-per-kwh increase.
Bayan Muna also questioned DOE’s so-called interruptible load program, which would compel malls and similar establishments to use their generators instead of using power in the grid.
Colmenares said while the program is laudable in that it would ensure continuous power supply for households, DOE’s proposal to pass on the cost of the use of generators by mall owners to consumers is objectionable.
“Why should private citizens shoulder the cost of supplying electricity to malls?” he said. - With Jess Diaz source
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