The ‘curse’ of strained electricity supply mainly precipitated by simultaneous plant outages will continue to haunt electricity consumers -- as the overall rate of Manila Electric Company (Meralco) is anticipated to rise again this month.

According to Meralco Vice President Joe Zaldarriaga, “based on our initial projections, there may be an upward rate adjustment on the generation charge for July 2021 due to an increase in WESM (Wholesale Electricity Spot Market) prices.”

The operator of the WESM previously indicated that overall spot price settlements had been tamed in June; but it appears that in the final electric bills, consumers are still bound to suffer ‘the cost of inefficiency and mismanagement’ of the government’s energy planners and policymakers.

Zaldarriaga qualified though that the utility firm is still waiting for all billings from its power suppliers, and the final figure on rate adjustment shall be calculated in the coming days yet.

The Meralco executive likewise pointed out that “with the increase in economic activity, the Luzon grid registered a new all-time high peak of 11,460 megawatts” in the last supply month.

He further stated “tight supply conditions persisted as NGCP (National Grid Corporation of the Philippines) placed the grid on red alert from May 31 to June 1” – now largely known as the “rotating blackout days” that tormented Luzon consumers in the summer months.

Beyond the power service interruptions, several instances of ‘yellow alert’ or insufficient reserve conditions also distressed the country’s biggest power grid; and that triggered surges in spot market prices.

And while the secondary price cap of P6.245 per kilowatt-hour in the WESM had been administered, it was emphasized that the overall impact may still be a high probability of higher electric bills for Filipino ratepayers.

Despite the expected rate hike in this billing cycle though, Meralco noted that its customers are still generally “experiencing record low power rate level, as last month’s overall rate was still lower” if compared to the same billing month last year.

Given the power sector’s patchy condition, especially on the supply side, the power firm said it will continue to motivate its customers to embrace energy efficiency as a lifestyle choice and as a matter of discipline on managing their energy usage.

“We encourage more customers to continue practicing energy efficiency initiatives at home – to be ready in managing their consumption, as we continue to have clement weather amid the declared start of the rainy season by the weather bureau,” Zaldarriaga stressed.