December 10, 2019 | 12:32 am
ELECTRICITY RATES for
consumers in Metro Manila and surrounding areas will increase in December by
P0.3044 per kilowatt-hour (/kWh) largely due to an overall increase in the
power generation charge as a result of the higher cost at the spot market,
Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) said on Monday.
Typical households
consuming 200 kWh can expect their power rate to rise to P9.8623/kWh from
P9.5579/kWh, or an increase of P61 in their total monthly bill. Those using 300
kWh, 400 kWh and 500 kWh will see an increase this month of P91.32, P121.76 and
P152.20, respectively.
“Despite the
adjustment, electricity rate this month is still around P0.70 per kWh lower
than in April 2019,” Meralco said.
From P5.0317 per kWh
last month, the generation charge for December increased to P5.1967 per kWh, or
higher by P0.1650 per kWh.
During the period,
charges from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) rose by P1.0799/kWh
because of tighter supply in the Luzon grid. System operator National Grid
Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) placed the grid on yellow alert twice
last month.
Meralco said the
average capacity on outage in November increased by 525 megawatts (MW) because
of scheduled and forced outages of some power plants. This came at a time when
Shell Philippines Exploration BV (SPEx) restricted Malampaya natural gas supply
to onshore gas-fired plants from Nov. 10 to 14.
Meralco said the share
of WESM to its supply requirement was down to 10%.
At the same time, the
cost of power from the independent power producers (IPP) and power supply
agreements rose by P0.1106/kWh and P0.0987/kWh, respectively. The increase was
because of lower average dispatch and the weakening of the peso against the US
dollar.
The 527-MW San Lorenzo
plant was on a scheduled outage from Nov. 1 to 9, while the second unit of the
344-MW Masinloc plant was on planned maintenance shutdown for the entire supply
month.
The power utility said
about 96% of the cost from IPPs are dollar-denominated, while around 61% of PSA
costs are dollar-denominated. Their share to Meralco’s supply needs was at 38%
and 52%, respectively.
Other costs such as the
transmission charge for residential customers also increased by P0.0753/kWh
because of higher NGCP ancillary service charges. Taxes and other charges
recorded an increase of P0.0641/kWh.
“Meralco’s
distribution, supply, and metering charges, meanwhile, have remained unchanged
for 53 months, after these registered reductions in July 2015,” the utility
said.
The listed company
reiterated that it does not earn from the pass-through charges, such as the
generation and transmission charges. Payment for the generation charge goes to
the power suppliers, while payment for the transmission charge goes to the
NGCP.
Taxes and other public
policy charges like the universal charges and the feed-in tariff allowance are
remitted to the government. — VVS
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