THE Manila Electric Company (Meralco) announced on Friday an upward adjustment of P0.5453 per kWh in the electricity rate this March.

Meralco said the overall rate for a typical household to P11.4348 per kWh from the previous month’s P10.8895 per kWh.

For residential customers consuming 200 kWh, the adjustment is equivalent to an increase of around P109 in their total electricity bill.

The generation charge went up by P0.4636 to P7.3790 from P6.9154 per kWh the previous month due to higher supply costs, mainly because of the Malampaya gas-to-power facility maintenance shutdown from February 4 to 18.

“This month’s generation charge increase would have been significantly higher, but we took the initiative to cushion the impact in the bills of our customers by coordinating with some of our suppliers to defer collection of portions of their generation costs,” Meralco Head of Regulatory Management Office Atty. Jose Ronald V. Valles said.

Valles added that a total of around P1.1 billion in deferred costs reduced this month’s generation rate by about P0.40 per kWh and will be billed on a staggered basis over the next two months or in April and May billing months, as coordinated with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).

Charges from Independent Power Producers (IPPs) increased by P0.5784 per kWh, net of deferred generation costs.

Meanwhile, charges from Power Supply Agreements (PSAs) remained generally flat, largely due to the deferral of collection of a portion of PSA costs. PSAs covered the remaining 43% of Meralco’s total requirement in the last supply month.

All other charges, including transmission charges and taxes, registered a net upward adjustment of P0.0817 per kWh. Collection of the P0.0364 Feed-In Tariff Allowance (FIT-All) remains suspended following the issuance of the ERC Resolution extending the suspension for another six months, beginning this March until the August billing month.

Pass-through charges for generation and transmission are paid to the power suppliers and the grid operator, respectively, while taxes, universal charges, and Feed-In Tariff Allowance (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.