Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) customers should prepare for any possible increase in overall power rates this month due to “strong pressures” that may trigger generation charges to go up.

Meralco head of utility economics Larry Fernandez confirmed on Monday that the generation charge for July may increase partly still due to the recent series of power alerts caused by a shortage in supply.

Fernandez said the anticipated adjustment could also be influenced by the amortization of deferred charges, estimated at 77 centavos per kilowatt-hour (kWh).

Generation charges watched

“We may expect strong pressures for the generation charge to increase this July. To recall, the generation charge saw a reduction in June, after ERC (Energy Regulatory Commission) directed the staggered collection of WESM (Wholesale Electricity Spot Market) charges over four months,” Fernandez said in a mobile message.

“Thus, from an artificially low level in June, we should expect WESM charges to normalize in the July generation charge.”

“The latter would be affected by the series of Red Alerts experienced by the Luzon Grid at the start of the June supply month. However, their impact should be mitigated by the lower demand due to the onset of the rainy season,” he explained.

This June, Meralco customers saw a P1.9623 per kWh decrease in the electricity rate instead of the P0.6436 per kWh increase. It brought the overall rate for a typical household to P9.4516 per kWh from May’s P11.4139.

For residential customers consuming 200 kWh, the adjustment translated to a P392 reduction in their total electricity bill.