Published May 9, 2018, 12:05 AM By Madelaine B.
Miraflor
Even as the country approaches the
tail end of summer, giant power distributor Manila Electric Company (Meralco)
announced that it will no longer be increasing its power rates this season as
its generation charge – the cost of electricity it buys from power producers –
didn’t accelerate in the past weeks.
On Tuesday, Meralco announced a
decrease in overall electricity rates this month, amounting to P0.5436 per kWh
for a typical household.
Equivalent to a decrease of around
P109 in the bill of a residential customer consuming 200kWh, the adjustment
this month brings the overall rate to P10.0041 per kWh from April’s P10.5477
per kWh.
“The lower May rate is mainly due to
the P0.4212 per kWh decrease in the generation charge,” Meralco said.
From P5.4735 per kWh in April, the
generation charge for this month will be P5.0523 per kWh.
Charges from the Wholesale
Electricity Spot Market (WESM) decreased by P1.0139 per kWh, despite higher
demand for power in the Luzon Grid and because of various power plants
previously on scheduled maintenance shutdown going back online. The share of
WESM purchases to Meralco’s total requirement this month was 22 percent.
Cost of power from Independent Power
Producers (IPPs) also went down by P0.5920 per kWh due to Quezon Power’s return
to normal operations from its scheduled maintenance.
“The improvement in average plant
dispatch more than offset the upward adjustment due to higher Malampaya natural
gas prices resulting from the quarterly re-pricing that reflect recent movement
of crude oil prices in the world market. IPPs provided 45 percent of Meralco’s
total energy requirement,” Meralco said.
Also, purchases from Power Supply
Agreements (PSAs) increased by P0.2096 per kWh due to scheduled maintenance
outage of Pagbilao Unit 1 and Ilijan Unit 1 and the quarterly re-pricing of
Malampaya natural gas. The share of PSA purchases to Meralco’s total
requirement this month was 33 percent.
Transmission charge to residential
customers slightly decreased as well by P0.0096 per kWh.
With the lower generation and
transmission charges, taxes and other charges also went down by P0.1128 per kWh
this month.
Meanwhile, Meralco announced that it
is prepared for the May 14 polls, as more than 180 generator sets will be on
standby on election day, to be carried by roving Meralco crews.
These generator sets intend to
provide basic lighting to polling and canvassing places in case of unexpected
power interruptions.
More than 300 floodlights will also
be ready for deployment and use in case of emergencies, but Meralco also
advises polling centers to bring backup lights as well as extra precautionary
measure.
On May 14, Meralco will have on duty
close to 500 responding crews, who will be working 24/7 to ensure that Meralco
is prepared to respond to any eventualities.
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