By Lenie Lectura July 13, 2020
Demand in areas where the Manila
Electric Co. (Meralco) is assigned to distribute electricity is picking up as
government relaxes quarantine restrictions.
“Aggregate demand for power has been
gradually increasing since the initial implementation of community quarantine,”
said Meralco utility economics head Lawrence Fernandez in a text message.
The utility firm, in a virtual press
conference, reported over the weekend that power demand rose to its highest
level in June since the start of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) last
March 16.
“From a peak of only 5,453 megawatts
(MW) in April, demand has risen to 6,428MW in May and 7,051 MW in June, both
due to warmer weather and increased economic activity. However, this is still
lower than the peak of 7,584MW registered in March, right before the imposition
of the ECQ,” said Fernandez.
Meralco serves Metro Manila, where
it is the sole electricity distributor, as well as some nearby provinces, like
Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon. It has over 6 million
customers.
It announced last Friday that July
power rates will go down by P0.0286 per kilowatt hour (kWh), from last month’s
P8.7252 per kWh, to P8.6966 per kWh. This is equivalent to a reduction of
around P6 in the total bill of residential customers consuming 200 kWh.
This is the lowest rate to be
implemented since September 2017, Meralco said.
Generation charge, which makes up
bulk of the power rates, decreased by P0.0069 per kWh to P4.3344 per kWh this
July. For four straight months, generation charge has been declining because
Meralco invoked force majeure (FM) provision in its power supply agreements
with power generators due to slow demand brought about by the pandemic.
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