The Manila Electric Company (Meralco) announced on Thursday a slight increase in its rates this month of May due to higher generation charges.
In a press briefing, Meralco spokesperson Joe Zaldarriaga said the power distributor will implement ₱0.176 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) increase, bringing the overall rate for a typical household to ₱11.4929 per kWh this month from ₱11.3168 per kWh in April.
JUST IN: Singil sa kuryente, tataas ng P0.176 per kilowatt hour, ayon sa Meralco | RH30 @liezel_once, DZRH News pic.twitter.com/8quBo5FGye
— DZRH NEWS (@dzrhnews) May 11, 2023
With the latest rate adjustments, customers consuming 200 kWh will pay an additional ₱35 in their total electricity bill while those consuming 300 kWh will pay ₱53.
Meanwhile, there will be an increase of ₱70 and ₱88 for customers consuming 400kwh and 500kwh, respectively.
According to Zaldarriaga, the generation charge for May increased to ₱7.67 from ₱7.33/kWh in the prior month.
"Epekto ito ng mas mataas ng singil sa whole sale electricity spot market or WESM at gayundin sa power supply agreement. Kasama dito ang huling koleksyon, kung matatandaan ninyo, 'yung generation cost na katumbas ng ₱0.20 centavos kada kilowatt-hour," he explained.
The Meralco spokesperson said the WESM charges rose to ₱1.7367/kWh due to higher peak of demand in the Luzon Grid.
Charges from power supply agreements also rose by ₱0.9086/kWh due to the depreciation of the peso against US dollars, Zaldarriaga said.
