Customers of Manila Electric Company (Meralco) will experience higher electric bills this month as its overall tariff went up by P0.0844 per kilowatt hour (kWh) to P9.9472 per kWh this November from the previous month’s P9.8628 per kWh.

For residential end-users in the 200 kWh consumption band, the aggregate increase they will shoulder in their bills would be P17, according to the utility firm.

Meralco said the major factor which triggered its rate hike had been the P0.0725 per kWh upswing in its generation charge this November to P6.9917 per kWh from P6.9192 per kWh in the previous billing cycle.

Other pass-on cost components include transmission charges as well as other charges incurred upward net adjustment of P0.0119 per kWh.

It further explained that charges from power supply agreements (PSAs) climbed by P0.2711 per kWh, mainly due to the scheduled 14-day maintenance shutdown of the San Gabriel power plant of First Gen last month.

That upward adjustment in the billing of the gas-fired power generator, however, had been offset by lower charges of its contracted independent power producers (IPPs) as well as settlement prices that had been billed by the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market.

Meralco’s sourcing of power in the last supply month had been dominated by its PSAs with a share of 49-percent while its IPP contracts delivered 45-percent in its supply portfolio and the balance of 6.0-percent from the spot market.

In particular, the utility firm noted that “the P0.1520 per kWh decrease in IPP charges was primarily due to a stronger peso, which affected 99-percent of IPP costs, and the reduced use of more expensive alternative fuel,” primarily by the Santa Rita gas-fired power plant of First Gas.

Meralco also said that gas fuel sourced from the Malampaya field has remained “stable following its quarterly repricing that reflected recent movement of international crude oil prices.”

Additionally, capacities procured from the WESM last month had softened by P0.7959 per kWh due to fewer conditions in the power system that would have warranted the imposition of secondary price cap in spot market prices.

“During the October supply period, the secondary price cap was triggered 51.64-percent of the time, down from 55.16-percent the preceding month,” the power utility company has emphasized.