Manila Electric Co., the country’s largest power distributor, said Thursday power rates in November will increase by P0.2347 a kiloWatt-hour, an upward adjustment that will be reflected in consumers’ December electricity bill.
The November rate increase will raise the overall rate of a typical household to P12.0545 per kWh from P11.8198 per kWh in October. For residential customers consuming 200 kWh, the adjustment is equivalent to an increase of around P47 in their total electricity bill.
Meralco said a higher transmission charge, up by P0.1211 per kWh, was the main reason for the rate hike, particularly for residential customers due to higher ancillary service charges.
The ancillary service charge of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines for regulating reserves went up almost fourfold, from P23.17 per kW to P91.35 per kW. Cost of regulating reserves accounted for around 76.5 percent of total ancillary service charges.
As of October this year, the Energy Regulatory Commission has approved an additional 257.78 MW for regulating reserve under new ancillary service procurement agreements. This reserve power is paid for by consumers even if they are not used.
The generation charge for November also went up by P0.0671 to P7.1938 per kWh from P7.1267 per kWh last month due to higher charges from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market and independent power producers.
WESM charges increased by P1.0933 per kWh due to tight supply conditions in the Luzon grid while IPP charges rose by P0.1093 per kWh mainly due to lower IPP dispatch and an increase in price of Malampaya natural gas following its quarterly repricing.
