CUSTOMERS of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) will have to pay more for electricity consumption for the third straight month after the utility yesterday announced a P0.8642 per kilowatt-hour (/kWh) increase in September’s overall rate.

The increase takes the overall rate to P9.2491/kWh from P8.3849/kWh or an additional P173 in the monthly bill of homes consuming 200 kWh that account for the biggest segment of Meralco’s residential customers.

Households using 300 kWh, 400 kWh and 500 kWh will see corresponding increases of P259/kWh, P346/kWh and P432/kWh, respectively in their bills.

Meralco said a refund of excess payment of pass-through charges from January 2014 to December 2016, totaling P6.9 billion, was completed in August, hence September rates “returned to pre-refund levels.” The distribution utility received the Energy Regulatory Commission’s provisional approval of the refund on May 11, 2017 which was implemented from June to August.

“The refund was not shown as a separate line item in the bill but was reflected as reductions in the different pass-through charges of the bill,” Meralco said, referring to generation, transmission, system loss charges, as well as lifeline and senior citizen subsidies.

The listed company said the refund gave residential customers a P0.88/kWh cut in their monthly bill, including taxes. For a typical residential household using 200 kWh, the total bill reduction was almost P530 during the three-month refund period, Meralco said.

For September, the higher generation charge was largely because of the increase in prices at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) and the depreciation of the peso against other currencies.

The overall generation charge for the month rose by P0.5615/kWh to P4.5378/kWh from P3.9763/kWh in August, when the charge included the P0.5355/kWh reduction on the ERC-approved refund.

Higher power demand in the Luzon grid pulled up WESM prices by P1.7263/kWh, Meralco said.

Cost of electricity from power supply agreements (PSAs) rose slightly by P0.0263/kWh, mainly due to the peso’s depreciation and lower plant dispatch.

“The shares of WESM and PSAs this month stood at 12% and 42%, respectively,” Meralco said.

Cost of electricity from independent power producers (IPP) dropped by P0.1117/kWh due to the improved dispatch of First Gas Power Corp. after its 1,000-megawatt Sta. Rita plant went through a scheduled maintenance last month. IPPs’ accounted for 46% of Meralco’s supply.

Among other power bill components, the transmission charge dropped by P0.0510/kWh while taxes and other charges rose by P0.3537/kWh.

“Meralco’s distribution, supply, and metering charges, meanwhile, have remained unchanged for 26 months, after registered reduction in July 2015,” Meralco said.

Meralco reiterated it does not earn from the pass-through generation and transmission charges.

Electricity is a key driver of inflation — accounting for a major 4.51% share of the consumer price index on which the overall year-on-year increase in prices of goods and services is computed — and was partly responsible for fueling August’s rate to a three-month-high 3.1%.

Meralco controlling stakeholder Beacon Electric Asset Holdings, Inc. is party owned by PLDT, Inc. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — VVS

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