MANILA - Meralco on Friday said power rates would be higher in March with an upward adjustment of P0.5453 per kWh due to higher generation charge.

This will bring the overall rate for a typical household to P11.4348 per kWh from the previous P10.8895 per kWh, the utility distributor said in a statement.

For residential customers consuming 200 kWh, it will be equivalent to an increase of around P109 in the total electricity bill, Meralco said.

Meralco said the scheduled maintenance of the Malampaya facility triggered the increase in generation charge, which went up by P0.4636 to P7.3790 from P6.9154 per kWh the previous month.

Malampaya conducted a maintenance shutdown from Feb. 4 to 18.

“This month’s generation charge increase would have been significantly higher, but we took the initiative to cushion the impact in the bills of our customers by coordinating with some of our suppliers to defer collection of portions of their generation costs,” Meralco Head of Regulatory Management Office Atty. Jose Ronald Valles said.

A total of P1.1 billion in deferred costs reduced this month's rate by about P0.40 per kWh. It will be billed on a staggered basis over the next 2 months, Valles said.

• No red, yellow alerts during Malampaya maintenance on Feb. 4 to 18: DOE
• Malampaya sets maintenance shutdown in February to prepare for summer demand
• All-Filipino consortium completes Malampaya maintenance work: DOE

Meralco said it is also working with the Department of Energy and stakeholders to ensure the delivery of sufficient power supply during the summer season when the demand peaks.

It is working to secure an additional 480 MW of supply to boost its available capacity, Meralco said.

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