MANILA — Meralco is raising power rates by P0.23 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in November.

This means a typical household will now pay P12.0545 per kWh, from P11.8198 per kWh in October.

The power company said it was increasing rates due to a spike in transmission and generation charges.

Meralco said transmission charges went up by P0.1211 per kWh on the back of higher ancillary charges.

The distributor said the ancillary service charge of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) for regulating reserves went up almost fourfold, from P23.17 per kW to P91.35 per kW.

Meanwhile, the generation charge went up to P7.1938 per kWh from P7.1267 per kWh in October due to higher charges from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) and independent power producers (IPPs).

WESM charges increased by P1.0933 per kWh due to tight supply conditions in the Luzon grid, while charges from independent producers went up because of lower dispatch, and an increase in the price of Malampaya natural gas following its quarterly repricing.

Meralco noted, however, that the P0.2980 per kWh decrease
in power supply agreement (PSA) charges mitigated the increase in the generation charge.

This means power rates will increase by the following amounts:

• 200kwh consumption - P47 increase
• 300kwh consumption - P70 increase
• 400kwh consumption - P94 increase
• 500kwh consumption - P117 increase

DISALLOWED NGCP EXPENSES

Meanwhile, the Energy Regulatory Commission has disallowed more than P200 billion in expenses submitted by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines for the rate resetting process covering the first phase of 2016-2020.

Among the disallowed expenses is some P3.7 billion spent for public relations, corporate social responsibility, representation and entertainment, advertising, donation for COVID-19, charitable contributions, and other miscellaneous expenses.

ERC Chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta said these expenses should not have been charged or be charged to consumers.

When asked if these disallowances means there is a possibility of a refund, Dimalanta said there is but she cannot categorically say at this point since these are just preliminary figures.

Dimalanta said, the commission is not saying that the NGCP should stop these expenses, only that these should not be passed on to the consumers.

Dimalanta also said that uncompleted projects should not yet be charged to consumers until these are fully finished.

These amount to more than P64 billion which includes projects that are up to 80 percent complete.

— Report from Alvin Elchico, ABS-CBN News

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