MANILA - Consumers in Metro Manila and neighboring provinces are in for higher electricity rates as Meralco sees higher power rates for this March billing.
Meralco Regulatory Affairs head Ronald Valles said that due to the Malampaya natural gas shutdown last February, power plants that run on natural gas had to use more expensive fuel.
Electricity prices in the spot market also rose due to tight supply.
Valles said for the replacement fuel alone, the equivalent increase is around P0.70-P0.80 per kilowatt-hour. But he added that this is not yet the final computation for the overall adjustment for March.
Meralco is set to announce the final figure next week.
Valles said Meralco plans to write the Energy Regulatory Commission to ask for advice on how to mitigate the impact on consumers.
The company also intends to communicate with generators if they can stagger the collection of some charges to ease the impact on consumers.
OIL PRICE HIKE TOO
Based on the first 4 trading days in the Mean of Platts Singapore, diesel is up by P1.14 per liter and kerosene is also up by P1.20.
Gasoline is also increasing but so far it's just around P0.05 per liter.
Industry experts claim the potential increase is due to a spike in oil demand in China as its economy rebounds.
The increase in prices of imported fuel is tempered by the fears of further interest rate hikes and higher crude and finished product inventory of the United States.
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