Meralco power rates to go up in April

An electric company lineman ducks under overhead electric meters along Recto Avenue in Manila on July 31, 2019. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File

MANILA (UPDATE) — Meralco electricity rates are going up in April.

The power distributor said rates were going up by P0.72/kwh due to higher generation and transmission charges.

These charges are bigger than the P0.20/kwh refund the power company is offering in April. 

This means electricity bills will rise by the following amounts:

Consumption       Increase

200 kwh               P145

300 kwh               P216

400 kwh               P288

500 kwh               P360

In a statement, Meralco said generation charges climbed because of higher costs from the wholesale electricity spot market (WESM). WESM charges went up by P3.4205/kWh because of tighter supply in the Luzon grid in March, the company said.

Charges from power supply agreements (PSAs) increased by P0.2811/kWh, Meralco noted. 

Meanwhile, the transmission charge for residential customers also went up to P0.0809/kWh because of higher ancillary service charges from the reserve market incurred by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).