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Manila Bulletin devider Business devider The Economy devider Meralco hints at lower September bills amid peso appreciation

Meralco hints at lower September bills amid peso appreciation

Published Sep 9, 2025 02:12 pm
The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) announced it is expecting a decrease in the generation charge for September, a key development that could temper the rising cost of electricity for millions of households.
Joe Zaldarriaga, Vice President and Head of Corporate Communications, explained that the potential for lower electricity bills is driven by decrease in the generation charge, which is the rate paid to power producers that supply electricity to Meralco.
“The decrease is mainly due to the stronger peso against the U.S. dollar, which affected the costs of Meralco suppliers' dollar-denominated expenses,” he said in a Viber message.
According to the Meralco executive, this has lowered the impact of cost recovery efforts by the Ramon Ang-led SMC Global Power (SMGP), which began earlier this month with the approval of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
SMGP had sought to recover incremental fuel costs from its terminated power supply deals with Meralco last March due to a change in circumstances.
“Overall, we are optimistic that the reduction in the generation charge will be able to offset increases in other bill components. We're set to announce the actual rate adjustment tomorrow,” Zaldarriaga added.
Last month, Meralco rates rose by ₱0.6268 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) due to higher pass-through charges. For a typical household, the August billing increased to an overall rate of ₱13.2703/kWh, while customers with a 200 kWh consumption saw about a ₱125 increase in their bills.
Meralco is set to announce the September rates on Wednesday, Sept. 10.
In other news, the ERC approved on Tuesday, Sept. 9, Meralco's power supply agreement (PSA) with San Miguel-led San Roque Hydropower Inc. (SRHI) and ACEN-led Gigasol3, Inc.

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Manila Electric Co. (Meralco)
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