Meralco tips September power relief

Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) customers may see relief in their September bills as rates are expected to drop, driven by lower generation charges. The reduction, once confirmed, would end two straight months of increases.

“We expect lower generation charges to pull down the overall rate this September,” Meralco Vice President and Head of Corporate Communications Joe R. Zaldarriaga said on Tuesday.

He explained that the decrease would be mainly due to the stronger peso against the United States dollar, which would affect the costs of Meralco suppliers with dollar-denominated contracts.

Zaldarriaga also noted that the potential reduction could more than offset the cost recovery for its terminated contracts, the implementation of which was approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission this month.

“Overall, we are optimistic that the reduction in generation charge will be able to offset the increase in other bill components,” he added.

Meralco is scheduled to announce the actual rate adjustment tomorrow morning.

The Pangilinan-led firm raised rates by P0.6268 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in August, marking the second consecutive month of increases and bringing the overall rate to P13.2703 per kWh. Households consuming 200 kWh paid about P125 more.

The hike was mainly driven by higher generation costs from Independent Power Producers and the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, partly offset by lower Power Supply Agreement charges.

Transmission and other charges also increased, while the distribution charge has remained unchanged since 2022.