Despite slight drop in the national grid’s power charges, Metro Manila consumers will still see a rate hike this month after the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) raised its transmission charge amid differing billing computations.

In a briefing on Wednesday, Oct. 15, Julius Ryan Datingaling, NGCP assistant vice president and revenue management head, said the overall average transmission charge for September declined slightly from ₱1.4171 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to ₱1.3998/kWh.

Datingaling attributed the marginal reduction to lower transmission wheeling rates—fees NGCP charges for power delivery—and reduced ancillary service (AS) rates, which are pass-through costs from the reserve market and bilateral contract providers.

Despite the decrease in NGCP’s charges, Metro Manila customers will still see an increase in their power bills after Meralco raised its own transmission rates for the October billing by ₱0.0114/kWh.

But Datingaling explained that the varying rates between NGCP and Meralco were likely due to differences in the period used for computation.

“We don’t know what period determinant they [Meralco] used,” Datingaling told reporters. “I don’t know if it’s based on the September billing period or this October billing period.”

Cynthia Alabanza, NGCP spokesperson, also clarified that the method distribution utilities, such as Meralco, use to compute the final transmission charge is entirely up to them.

“All we know is that the billing on our end since last month and now have dropped,” Alabanza said. She noted that NGCP only charges ₱0.59/kWh for its service delivery, with AS costs constituting the bulk of the overall transmission charges.

However, Meralco explained that the hike this month was mainly due to the recovery of previously undercharged transmission costs.

According to Meralco, the utility is now recovering the amounts it did not charge fully in the past, based on new rules from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).

Last Monday, Joe Zaldarriaga, Meralco Vice President and Head of Corporate Communications, announced that consumers will see a ₱0.1852/kWh increase this month, raising the overall charge for a typical household to ₱13.3182/kWh.

Consumers using 200 kWh will see about a ₱47 increase, 300 kWh users around ₱70, 400 kWh about ₱93, and 500 kWh roughly ₱117.

This month’s price spike was primarily driven by a ₱0.1903/kWh increase in the generation charge, as rates from Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and Power Supply Agreements (PSAs) climbed.

Meanwhile, NGCP spokesperson Cynthia Alabanza assured that the recent series of earthquakes will not compromise grid reliability.

She noted that natural calamities are already factored into the planning of its projects. She stated that NGCP considers potential hazards, including topography, flooding, and fault lines, even in the initial planning stage, especially because the country is in the Pacific Ring of Fire.

By avoiding high-risk areas, the company can mitigate damage “so that when there’s a crisis, we’ll be able to mitigate it,” she added.