The Manila Electric Company (Meralco) on Thursday announced an upward adjustment of P0.5738 per kWh in the February electricity rate. This brings the overall rate for a typical household to P11.9168 per kWh this month from P11.3430 per kWh in January.
For residential customers consuming 200 kWh, the adjustment is equivalent to an increase of around P115 in their total electricity bill.
Driving this month’s overall rate increase is the generation charge, which went up by P0.4552 to P7.1020 per kWh from P6.6468 per kWh last month, primarily due to higher cost of power from Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and Power Supply Agreements (PSAs).
Charges from IPPs increased by P1.4764 per kWh due to higher fuel costs of First Gas – Sta. Rita and San Lorenzo power plants, mainly resulting from the increased use of imported liquefied natural gas (LNG), which was around 35 percent to 40 percent more expensive than Malampaya gas
The price of Malampaya gas, meanwhile, also went up. On one hand, the Malampaya gas price to Sta. Rita went up by almost 12 percent, following the signing of a new gas supply and purchase agreement (GSPA) between First Gas and the Malampaya consortium. On the other hand, the price of Malampaya gas to San Lorenzo, which is still based on the old GSPA, rose by less than 2 percent. In addition, the peso’s depreciation contributed to the increase in IPP charges, which were 96 percent dollar-denominated.
Charges from PSAs inched up by P0.1558 per kWh due to higher charges from emergency PSAs and the peso depreciation, which affected around 11 percent of PSA costs that were dollar-denominated. Mitigating a further increase was higher excess energy deliveries from some PSAs, which were priced at a discount.
IPPs and PSAs accounted for 32.8 percent and 46.8 percent, respectively, of Meralco’s total energy requirement in the last supply month.
The increases in IPP and PSA charges were tempered by the P0.4071 per kWh decrease in charges from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) due to improved supply situation in the Luzon grid. Average demand and average capacity on outage were lower by about 502 MW and 101 MW, respectively, for the January supply month.
Meralco sourced 20.4 percent of its total energy requirement from the WESM during the period. Transmission and other charges registered a net increase of 0.1186 per kWh.
This already reflected the collection resumption of the P0.0364 per kWh Feed-In Tariff Allowance (FIT-All) starting this February billing month as ordered by the Energy Regulatory Commission.
Pass-through charges for generation and transmission are paid by Meralco to the power suppliers and the grid operator, respectively, while taxes, universal charges, and FIT-All are all remitted to the government.
Meralco’s distribution charge, on the other hand, has not moved since the P0.0360 per kWh reduction for a typical residential customer beginning August 2022.
To help ensure the availability of sufficient electricity supply for the upcoming dry season, Meralco has called on large power consumers to enroll in the government’s Interruptible Load Program (ILP).
The ILP is an energy demand-side management program through which large-load customers are asked to use their generator sets or shift their operations, instead of drawing power from the grid, to spare households from power interruptions during instances of Red Alert or when supply is insufficient to meet the demand.
At present, there are 103 companies with 528 MW de-loading capacity across the Meralco franchise area that are enrolled in the ILP. Since it was first implemented in 2014, the ILP has spared as many as 1.8 million households from power interruptions in the Meralco franchise area.
“We are banking on the support of large load consumers within the Meralco franchise area to embody the spirit of bayanihan and join the ILP. As we have experienced in the past, the program has been beneficial in ensuring continuity of service even when supply is tight,” Meralco vice president and head of Corporate Communications Joe R. Zaldarriaga said.
To better manage electricity consumption, Meralco also advised its customers to embrace energy efficiency as a way of life. Some power saving tips customers can practice are unplugging appliances when not in use, refraining from overfilling refrigerators, regular cleaning of air conditioner filters, and using LED bulbs for cost-saving lighting.
Meralco customers can also have better control of their monthly electricity bills with the help of the Meralco Mobile App Appliance Calculator that provides information on the energy consumption of appliances and gadgets.
