THE Manila Electric Company (Meralco) announced on Tuesday, (April 11) a reduction of P0.1180 per kWh in the electricity rate this April.

In an advisory, Meralco said this means bringing down an overall rate for a typical household to P11.3168 per kWh from the previous month’s P11.4348 per kWh.

For residential customers consuming 200 kWh, the adjustment is equivalent to a decrease of around P24 in their total electricity bill.

The generation charge went down to P7.3295 this month from P7.3790 per kWh, even with the collection of the first installment of deferred generation costs equivalent to around P0.20 per kWh this April billing period.

To recall, last month, Meralco coordinated with its suppliers and the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to stagger the collection of a total of around P1.1 billion in March generation costs to cushion the impact of the rate increase on its customers.

The effect of the collection of the first installment was more than offset by lower costs from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) and Meralco’s Power Supply Agreements (PSAs) for the April billing period.

All other charges, including transmission charges, taxes, and subsidies, also registered a net reduction of P0.0685 per kWh.

Collection of the Feed-In Tariff Allowance (FIT-All) remains suspended until the August billing month following the issuance of the ERC Resolution extending the deferral for another six months starting last month. Pass-through charges for generation and transmission are paid 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 in August 2022.

The power distributor is still implementing one distribution-related refund, equivalent to P0.8656 per kWh for residential customers, which continues to temper their monthly bills. The final refund is set to be completed by May 2023, the impact of which will be felt the succeeding month.

Meanwhile, Meralco also advised that the ERC on April 4 formally endorsed the official list of beneficiaries of the lifeline discount.

This is in accordance with Republic Act (RA) No. 11552, also known as “An Act Extending and Enhancing the Implementation of the Lifeline Rate, Amending for the Purpose Section 73 of Republic Act 9136 (Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2021).”

Under the amended law, beneficiaries of the lifeline discount should come from marginalized households, which are defined as those who are: beneficiaries of the Pantawid ng Pamilyang Pilipino Program or households who secured certification from the local Social Welfare Development Office.

Such households will be entitled to the lifeline discount if their consumption meets with lifeline consumption threshold set by the ERC. For the Meralco service area, this threshold is at 100 kWh.