After two straight months of downtrend, Manila Electric Co. or Meralco customers should brace for slightly higher power rates this month triggered by the higher charges from Power Supply Agreements or PSAs and Independent Power Producers or IPPs.

The company announced on Friday that power rates this month inched up by a little over 50 cents at P11.39 per kilowatt-hour or kWh from P10.90 per kWh in August.

The adjustment will translate to a hike of around P100 in the total electricity bills of households consuming 200 kWh monthly.

Charges from PSAs went up by P1.04 per kWh because of higher fuel prices and the peso's depreciation against the United States dollar, which affected around 30 percent of power deal charges that are dollar-denominated.

Notably, the same factors also resulted in a 48 centavos per kWh increase in IPP charges.

The weakening of the Peso against the U.S. Dollar affected almost all or 98 percent of IPP costs, which are dollar-denominated.

PSAs and IPPs accounted for 39 percent and 36 percent of Meralco's total energy requirement for this period, respectively.

Meanwhile, the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market or WESM charges declined by 50 centavos per kWh, primarily due to reductions in adjustments and other charges.

The WESM's share of Meralco's requirement was 23 percent this month from 17 percent the previous month.

Sual Power Inc. terminated its 330-MW PSA with Meralco effective 23 July following the Court of Appeals decision on the Energy Regulatory Commission's denial of its motion for price adjustment.

Thus, Meralco was forced to partially source replacement power from the WESM.

To help some consumers cope with the rising prices, Meralco called on beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program and other marginalized households to apply for the lifeline rate program to continue getting discounts on their electricity bills.

Government regulators have moved the full implementation of the new Lifeline Rate Program to January 2024 to allow for more assertive promotion and registration efforts to entice users to avail of their electricity lifeline rate subsidy.

A lifeline rate is a subsidized rate given to low-income users consuming electricity below 100 kilowatt-hours who cannot afford to pay their bills at full cost. The scale of rate reduction varies depending on the prevailing rates of the DUs.