Meralco power rate rollback seen this month

Customers of the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) may look forward to a sigh of relief as the power distributor is seeing a possible reduction in its household rate this month.

"Initial indication shows a possible decrease in the generation charge in the October billing," Meralco said in a statement.

"This is primarily driven by lower WESM (Wholesale Electricity Spot Market) charges as prices went down due to reduced demand brought about by cooler temperatures in the September supply month," it said.

The expected rollback in Meralco's household rate came after it raised its power cost in September due to the higher transmission charge for residential customers.

The company said the end of the collection of the deferred May 2024 WESM costs last month would also contribute to the anticipated reduction in its rate for October.

Nonetheless, the power distributor said pass-through charges for generation and transmission are paid to the power suppliers and grid operator, respectively, while taxes, universal charges, and Feed-in Tariff Allowance (FIT-All) are all remitted to the government.

Moreover, Meralco said its distribution charge has not moved since the P0.0360 per kWh reduction for a typical residential customer in August 2022. — VDV, GMA Integrated News