Meralco sees possible hike in power rates for April
Customers of power distributor Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) may have to brace for higher electricity bills this month due to a possible rise in generation and transmission charges.
Joe Zaldarriaga, Meralco vice president and head of corporate communications, told reporters on Tuesday that the company expects to see higher prices in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) “due to the tight supply situation in the last supply month.”
According to him, initial data showed an increase in average power demand hitting more than 1,000 megawatts (MW). Average capacity on outage was almost 1,000 MW.
The WESM is an avenue where power is traded between producers and distributors to jack up their supply. The Independent Electricity Market Operator (IEMOP) of the Philippines earlier said the prices of power traded in the spot market almost doubled in March to P5.34 per kilowatt hour (kWh) from P2.73 per kWh a month ago.
IEMOP said the higher WESM prices could be pinned on the stronger demand and weaker supply due to the poor performance of power plants.
Meralco’s generation charge, which usually accounts for more than 50 percent of the monthly power bill, is influenced by prices from the WESM, independent power producers and power supply agreements.
“In addition, higher ancillary service charges due to higher Reserve Market Prices will likely drive [up] transmission charges in the April billing,” Zaldarriaga said.
But a slight relief is also seen to help cushion the impact of the projected upward adjustments in rates.
“We hope that the start of the implementation of the refund approved by the [Energy Regulatory Commission] will help mitigate these possible increases in these bill components. This is equivalent to around 20 centavos per kWh downward adjustment for residential customers starting this month,” Zaldarriaga added.
