Customers of the Manila Electric Co. will get slight relief in their monthly power bills this month following a 7cents cut on rates due to lower Feed-in-Tariff Allowance and generation charges.

Meralco announced on Monday that the overall rate for a typical household went down by P0.07 to P9.86 from P9.94 per kWh last month. For a residential customer consuming 200 kWh, the reduction is equivalent to a decrease of almost P15 in their total electricity bill.

The power distributor noted that the overall rate for October was pulled down by a P0.06 cents per kWh reduction in the Feed-in-Tariff Allowance after the Energy Regulatory Commission, in a Resolution dated 30 August, approved the collection of a P0.04 FIT-All per kWh starting the October billing period, down from P0.09 per kWh previously implemented.

Likewise, the generation charge went down by P0.02 to P6.91 from P6.93 per kWh in September, on the back of lower costs from Meralco's supply contracts.

Charges from Independent Power Producers and Power Supply Agreements decreased by P0.50 and P0.070 per kWh, respectively.

Meralco also noted that South Premiere Power Corporation and San Miguel Energy Corporation continued to supply power to Meralco at the ERC-approved rates, albeit under protest, following the ERC Orders dated 29 September denying the claims for price adjustments of the two suppliers.

"We would like to assure our customers that we will exhaust all remedies to prevent termination of the PSAs with SPPC and SMEC since we believe that preserving these contracts will still be the least cost for our customers," lawyer Jose Ronald V. Valles, Meralco FVP and Regulatory Management Office, said.

"Should SPPC and SMEC decide to pursue the contract termination, we will ensure continuity of stable, reliable, and adequate supply for our customers by getting supply from other sources like the WESM and other generation companies," he added.