THE Manila Electric Company (Meralco) announced yesterday a minimal upward adjustment of P0.0327 per kWh in the electricity rate this August, bringing the overall rate for a typical household to P11.6339 per kWh from the previous month’s P11.6012 per kWh.

For residential customers consuming 200 kWh, the adjustment is equivalent to an increase of around P7 in their total electricity bill.

Driving this month’s overall rate adjustment is the P0.1086 per kWh increase in the transmission charge for residential customers due to higher charges of the grid operator for ancillary service, which covers reserves necessary to maintain grid reliability.

For this month, ancillary service charges went up by more than 50% as charges for contingency and dispatchable reserves doubled.

The transmission charge increased more than offset the P0.0503 per kWh reduction in the generation charge.

Meanwhile, prices in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) also registered a reduction as Luzon’s average peak demand decreased by 690 MW.

The secondary price cap was triggered only 2.3% of the time during the July supply month from the previous 6.6%. The effective WESM charges for the month, however, showed an increase of P0.5940 per kWh after adding the third of four installments of deferred May WESM costs ordered by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).

Charges from Power Supply Agreements (PSAs), on the other hand, went up by P0.0421 per kWh mainly due to higher fuel-related costs.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Arlene Rivera