By Lenie Lectura - August 6,
2017
THE generation charge component of
Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) consumers’ electricity bill is expected to go up
by a few centavos this month.
Generation charge covers the
cost associated with Meralco’s purchase of power from its suppliers—independent
power producers (IPPs), power producers with power supply agreements (PSAs)
with Meralco and power producers using renewable energy (RE) and the Wholesale
Electricity Spot Market (WESM).
During a forum at the editorial
office of the BusinessMirror, Meralco Spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga said generation
charge could go up anywhere between six centavos and 10 centavos.
“Although spot prices registered a
reduction, we see generation costs as having a slight upward movement of
probably around six centavos to 10 centavos mainly due to higher fuel costs,”
Zaldarriaga said.
Overall generation charge also
increased slightly last month by P0.0799 per kilowatt-hour, from P3.8586 per
kWh in June to P3.9385 per kWh in July, mainly due to higher IPPs and WESM
charges.
Zaldarriaga added the August
overall power rates reflect the last three-month installments of
the refund of over-recovery on pass-through charges from January 2014 to
December 2016, totaling around P6.9 billion.
“This will be the last of the said
refund. Thus, we are definitely looking at an increase in September rates,” he
said.
On May 11 the Energy Regulatory
Commission (ERC) granted Meralco’s petition for refund for implementation from
June to August this year. The refund is not shown as a separate line item in
the electricity bill but is embedded in the different pass-through charges
indicated in the bill, which include generation, transmission, and system-loss
charges, and lifeline and senior citizen subsidies. For residential customers,
the refund translates to a reduction of P0.79 per kWh, excluding taxes.
During the forum, Meralco Utility
Economics head Lawrence Fernandez said one of the main reasons power rates in
the Philippines are among the highest in the region is the absence of
government subsidies for electricity.
“Based on a study, Philippine power
rates are cost reflective. This means that it reflects the true cost of
generation, transmission and distribution. Unlike in other countries, such as
Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, where the government subsidizes electricity
costs,” he said.
Fernandez added that, based
on the same study, “reflecting the true cost of electricity is an
economically sound policy”. Zaldarriaga said other countries no
longer want to subsidize electricity rates because it is not feasible in the
long term to do so.
Meanwhile, Meralco has, so far,
registered 65,000 users of its prepaid electricity service.
Meralco Head for Marketing and
Customer Solutions Jose Antonio Valdez said the numbers are very encouraging,
as more consumers are becoming budget conscious.
“We now have 65,000 prepaid
electricity customers. Every month, we add about 5,000 to 7,000 new customers,”
he said. The company is targeting to register 100,000 users of its
prepaid-electricity service, dubbed as “Kuryente Load” (KLoad), by the end of
the year.
The service is available in select
areas in Makati, Manila, Pasig, Mandaluyong and Rizal. It will expand the
coverage of the service in Marikina, Caloocan, Quezon City, Pateros, Pasay, San
Juan and Taguig within the year.
The KLoad service runs on the
latest “smart” meters and can detect outages instantly, allowing for
faster restoration. The prepaid-meter system allows customers to monitor their
electricity consumption, giving them control over consumption and spending.
Based on research from actual
consumer usage, customers who shifted from postpaid to prepaid are able to
effectively monitor their consumption daily via text- messaging service. As a
result, they can save an average of 20 percent on electricity consumption,
translating to total savings of around P300 per customer.
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