Household electricity rates lower in December
Lower generation charge pulled down the rates of power distributor Manila Electric Co.’s (Meralco) in its December billing period by P0.7961 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), bringing the overall electricity rate of a typical household to P11.2584 per kWh and ending a two-month streak of increases, the utility firm announced on Monday.
This translates to a decrease of P159 in the total bill of a customer consuming 200 kWh a month.
According to Meralco, its generation charge, or the cost of power purchased from suppliers that accounts for more than 50 percent of the total bill, went down by P0.6606 per kWh to P6.5332 per kWh on the back of lower charges from the spot market and independent power producers (IPPs).
Charges from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market were cut by P2.7624 per kWh as demand in the power-hungry Luzon grid went down by 421 megawatts (MW).
IPP charges, meanwhile, were slashed by P0.4731 per kWh due to lower coal prices, as well as Lopez-led First Gen Corp.’s “reduced use of more expensive liquid fuel.”
Meralco sourced 20 percent of its power requirements last month from the spot market, and 32 percent from IPPs.
The remaining 48 percent came from power supply agreements, whose charges had a slight upward adjustment of P0.0805 per kWh due to lower average supply dispatch.
