MERALCO SAYS RATES LOWER IN MARCH

Flores, A. M. S. (March 10)

Manila Electric Co., the biggest electricity retailer, said Monday rates have dropped by P0.095 per kilowatthour in March compared to a month ago due to lower generation charges and other bill components.

Customers with a monthly consumption of 200 kWh will experience a decrease of around P19 in their March electricity billing.

Meralco, however, said power plants relying on natural gas would shift to the more expensive liquid fuel in the wake of the shutdown of the Malampaya production from mid-March to mid-April.

“As a result of the use of liquid fuel, rates are expected to increase in the billing months affected by the shutdown and the impact of higher energy demand during the summer months. This includes both April and May,” it said.

Meralco said he generation charge, or the portion of the bill that goes to the  power producers, decclined P0.029 per kWh to P5.209 for March from P5.238 in February.

“This was driven by the P0.30 reduction in the average rate of Meralco’s Power Supply Agreements for the February supply month owing to higher dispatch of the plants under the PSAs,” Meralco said in a statement.

The PSAs’ share to Meralco’s total power supply rose to 54 percent from 49 percent.

Meralco said the reduction in the PSA rates, however, was dampened by an increase of P1.14 per kWh in the average price at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market and P0.18 per kWh in the charge of independent power producers.

WESM’s share to Meralco’s total power requirements increased to 4.5 percent from  4 percent due to the maintenance shutdown of Quezon Power Philippines Ltd.

The share of IPPs, meanwhile, dropped to 40.5 percent from 47 percent due mainly to the QPPL outage.

Despite the lower rates from the Sta. Rita and San Lorenzo natural gas plants, the average IPP rate was pulled up by QPPL.

The balance of Meralco’s power requirements was accounted for by the interim power supply agreements.

Meralco said transmission charge also rose by P0.045 per kWh due to lower ancillary charges. Other charges, which include system loss and subsidies, registered a decrease of P0.010 per kWh. The reductions resulted in corresponding decreases in taxes (VAT and local franchise tax) of P0.011 per kWh.

http://manilastandardtoday.com/2015/03/09/meralco-says-rates-lower-in-march/