THE Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) will implement a power rate decrease for September, making the fifth straight month of downward adjustments.
In an advisory, Meralco on Wednesday bares the overall rate for a typical household decrease by P0.0623 per kilowatt-hour from last month’s P8.4911 per kWh to P8.4288 per kWh this September.
This is equivalent to a reduction of around P12 in the total bill of residential customers consuming 200 kWh.
According to Meralco, this month’s overall rate is also the lowest in three years, or since September 2017.
Meralco attributed the Lower Generation Charge to the Force Majeure demand.
This led from From P4.1241 per kWh in August, the generation charge decreased by P0.0381 per kWh to P4.0860 per kWh this September. This is the sixth straight month of generation rate reduction.
Because of the reduced power demand in its service area during the community quarantine period, Meralco continued to invoke the Force Majeure provision in some of its Power Supply Agreements (PSAs).
This September, the Force Majeure claim totalled about P463 million, equivalent to customer savings of P0.1710 per kWh in the generation charge. Without the Force Majeure claims, the generation charge and the total rate would have increased by 13-centavos and 14-centavos per kWh, respectively. For the past six months, the savings from Force Majeure claims totaled around P2.4 billion.
Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) charges were P0.0147 per kWh lower this month due to decrease in Luzon demand as some areas, including Metro Manila and adjacent provinces, returned to Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) from August 4 to 18. The share of WESM to MERALCO’s supply needs was 11.6%.
Meanwhile, purchases from Independent Power Producers (IPPs) inched up by P0.0601 per kWh mainly due to lower average plant dispatch. IPPs accounted for 33.6% of Meralco ‘s total supply.
Transmission charge for residential customers registered a slight reduction of P0.0112 per kWh due to lower Ancillary Service Charges. There was also a net decrease of P0.0130 per kWh in Taxes and other charges.
Collection of the Universal Charge-Environmental Charge amounting to P0.0025 per kWh remains suspended, as directed by the ERC.
Meralco’s distribution, supply, and metering charges, meanwhile, have remained unchanged for 62 months, after these registered reductions in July 2015.
Meralco reiterated that it does not earn from the pass-through charges, such as the generation and transmission charges. Payment for the generation charge goes to the power suppliers, while payment for the transmission charge goes to the NGCP. Taxes and other public policy charges like the Universal Charges and the FIT-All are remitted to the government.
