Manila Electric Company (MERALCO) announced today another downward adjustment of power rates.
The overall rate for a typical household decreased by P0.0623 per kWh, from last month’s P8.4911 per kWh to P8.4288 per kWh this September. This is equivalent to a reduction of around P12 in the total bill of residential customers consuming 200 kWh.
This month’s overall rate is also the lowest in three years, or since September 2017.
Because of the reduced power demand in its service area during the community quarantine period, MERALCO continued to invoke the Force Majeure provision in some of its Power Supply Agreements (PSAs).
This September, the Force Majeure claim totaled about P463 million, equivalent to customer savings of P0.1710 per kWh in the generation charge. Without the Force Majeure claims, the generation charge and the total rate would have increased by 13-centavos and 14-centavos per kWh, respectively.
For the past 6 months, the savings from Force Majeure claims totaled around P2.4 billion.
PSA charges decreased by P0.3032 per kWh due to MERALCO’s Force Majeure claim. PSAs accounted for 54.8% of MERALCO’s energy requirement
Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) charges were P0.0147 per kWh lower this month due to decrease in Luzon demand as some areas, including Metro Manila and adjacent provinces, returned to Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) from August 4 to 18. The share of WESM to MERALCO’s supply needs was 11.6%.
Meanwhile, purchases from Independent Power Producers (IPPs) inched up by P0.0601 per kWh mainly due to lower average plant dispatch. IPPs accounted for 33.6% of MERALCO’s total supply.
Transmission charge for residential customers registered a slight reduction of P0.0112 per kWh due to lower Ancillary Service Charges. There was also a net decrease of P0.0130 per kWh in Taxes and other charges.
Collection of the Universal Charge-Environmental Charge amounting to P0.0025 per kWh remains suspended, as directed by the ERC.