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Undated photo shows a series of electricty transmission towers at sunset.
STAR / File
MANILA, Philippines — Meralco consumers will face higher electricity bills this March as the power distributor implements its second consecutive rate hike.
Meralco announced on Tuesday, March 11, a P0.2639 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) increase, bringing the overall rate to P12.2901 per kWh from P12.0262 per kWh.
With the new rates, a household consuming 200 kWh will see its monthly bill rise to P2,458.02 from P2,405.24, adding about P52.78.
This brings the total increase for a 200 kWh household over the past two months, including March, to P109.46.
Meralco projects the additional costs for March based on different consumption levels as follows:
- 200 kWh - P52.78
- 300 kWh - P79.17
- 400 kWh - P105.56
- 500 kWh - P131.95
With extreme heat expected this March and in the coming months, electricity demand is likely to rise as households rely more on cooling appliances.
The power distributor attributed the increase to the expiration of the one-time downward adjustment on the reset fee, which lowered rates by P0.2264 per kWh in February.
A P0.1294 per kWh increase in the transmission charge for residential consumers also contributed to the rate hike. This was driven by higher ancillary service charges — or the cost of support services — incurred by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).
“This month’s transmission charge also includes the second of three installments of February and March 2024 reserve market transactions for Luzon that the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) directed NGCP to collect,” the statement read.
Meralco also attributed the higher electricity costs this month in part to the increase in the Feed-in Tariff Allowance (FIT-All), a charge that supports renewable energy development.
The ERC raised the FIT-All rate to P0.1189 per kWh this month, up from P0.0838 per kWh, resulting in a P0.0351 per kWh increase.
Other charges, including taxes, also had a cumulative increase of P0.04616 per kWh, Meralco said.
Helping offset the rate hike this month was a P0.1686 per kWh decrease in generation charges, bringing the cost down to P7.0517 per kWh from P7.2203 per kWh. Meralco said this decline was caused by lower costs from its power suppliers.
Independent Power Producers (IPPs) reduced charges by P1.0143 per kWh, while Power Supply Agreements (PSAs) saw a decrease of P0.2934 per kWh, partly due to the strengthening of the Philippine Peso against the United States Dollar.
The power distributor also said that Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) charges dropped by P0.2247 per kWh “due to improved supply situation in Luzon.”
“While average demand in the grid increased by around 329 MW, average capacity on outage was lower by about 157 MW for the February supply month,” it added.
Meanwhile, the distribution charge remains unchanged.
The rate adjustment is determined by summing up the changes in generation, transmission, distribution costs, regulatory reset fees, taxes and other pass-through charges.
