To alleviate the financial burden of high electricity prices on consumers, the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) will defer the collection of a portion of the generation cost this month, which is anticipated to jack up due to tight supply in the Luzon and Visayas grids.

The power distribution giant said on Tuesday that it has proposed a staggered collection of the generation costs for three months or from June to August, to which the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) did not object.

“To cushion the impact of the rate increase to our customers, Meralco initiated the coordination with its suppliers to defer a portion of their generation costs,” Meralco Spokesperson and Vice President for Corporate Communications Joe R. Zaldarriaga said.

According to Meralco, it has also sought the approval of the ERC to defer the collection of a portion of the WESM charges.

The ERC has ordered all distributors in Luzon and Visayas, including Meralco, to wait for the final billing from the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines, which operates the WESM, before issuing their respective June bills.

The Energy regulator said that final numbers are usually lower than the preliminary billing. Thus, it would reflect the implementation of administered pricing and secondary price caps in the spot market during the last supply month.

Responding to the order, Zaldarriaga said: “Meralco will comply with this directive and will wait for IEMOP’s adjusted billing before computing the final rates for June and issuing the bills to our customers.”

“With this, we also advise our customers to expect a slight delay in the delivery of their bills. We would like to give the assurance that these efforts are meant to mitigate the impact of the expected rate increase to all our customers,” he said.

To recall, Meralco had already disclosed early this month the overall rates in June are expected to go up due to higher pass-through charges.

The charges cover generation and WESM charges as well as transmission charges, which are also likely to increase following the partial lifting of reserve market settlement as ordered by the ERC.

Additionally, the increase in feed-in tariff (FIT) allowance as approved by the regulator will also influence the power rate movement.