The Manila Electric Co., the country’s largest power distributor that serves Metro Manila and parts of neighboring provinces, said Wednesday that power rate in September will be lower by P0.1852 per kiloWatt-hour due largely to lower generation costs.
The listed utility company, which is better known as Meralco, said overall residential electricity rate will go down to P13.0851 per kWh from P13.2703 in August.
This means, according to Meralco Vice President and Corporate Communications Head Joe R. Zaldarriaga, a residential customers consuming 200 kWh can expect a P37 decrease in their September bill. He said rate reduction will provide relief amid typically lower demand during this period.
The main driver of the rate cut was a P0.2603 per kWh drop in generation charges, largely due to lower fuel prices and a stronger Peso. Charges from Independent Power Producers and Power Supply Agreements fell by P1.3459 and P0.3660 per kWh, respectively, as most of their costs are dollar-denominated.
These savings offset a P0.3785 per kWh hike in Wholesale Electricity Spot Market charges, driven by increased demand and outages in the Luzon grid.
Meralco also began collecting price adjustments from Sual Power Inc. and South Premiere Power Corp., following a Supreme Court ruling. The adjustments, worth P5.1 billion, will be spread over six months, with an impact of P0.26 per kWh this month.
Transmission charges rose by P0.1130 due to higher reserve market costs, while taxes and other charges saw a net decrease of P0.0379. Meralco’s distribution charge remains unchanged since August 2022.
