POWER BILLS UP
ELECTRICITY consumers will pay higher bills this month , after the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) announced on Tuesday a slight upward adjustment of P0.1048 per kWh in the electricity rate this December,
In a advisory , Meralco said the overall rate for a typical household to P11.9617 per kWh from the previous month’s P11.8569 per kWh.
“For our residential customers with a consumption of 200 kWh, this translates to an upward adjustment of P21 in their total electricity bill this month,” Meralco Vice President and Head of Corporate Communications Joe R. Zaldarriaga said.
“This month’s increase was largely due to higher generation charge, which goes to our power suppliers,” Zaldarriaga added.
Generation charge increased by P0.1839 per kWh increase in the generation charge, owing to the increased costs from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) and Power Supply Agreements (PSAs).
WESM charges went up by P0.2531 per kWh with the tighter supply conditions in the Luzon grid as average capacity on outage increased by around 396 MW.
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.
Meralco reminded the public to practice electrical safety to ensure a bright, merry, and accident-free holiday celebrations.
