MANILA, Philippines – The Manila Electric Company (Meralco) announced an increase in power rates in June, but it was cushioned by the firm’s initiatives to defer scheduled increases.

Meralco on Thursday, June 13, announced an upward adjustment of P0.6436 per kilowatt hour (kWh), bringing the overall rate for a typical household to P12.0575 per kWh from May’s P11.3139 per kWh.

A typical household consuming 200 kWh should expect an increase of around P129 in their electricity bill.

The increase in June was primarily due to the higher generation charge amid higher costs from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).

Electricity rates were supposed to go even higher, but Meralco asked some suppliers to defer scheduled increases in generation costs.

“The increase in the generation charge this month would have been higher but Meralco took the initiative to cushion the impact of the higher pass-through costs to our customers with the help from some of our suppliers which deferred the collection of portions of their generation costs,” Meralco senior vice president Jose Ronald Valles said.

Meralco, along with Quezon Power Ltd., San Buenaventura Power Ltd. Co., and South Premiere Power Corporation, deferred the collection of around P500 million in generation costs, reducing June’s generation charge by P0.1313 per kWh. This will instead be billed on a staggered basis over the next three months, as cleared by the Energy Regulatory Commission.

Meralco said it is still waiting for the regulatory approval of the 400-megawatt interim power supply agreement with Limay Power, Inc. which could significantly reduce its exposure to WESM’s price fluctuations. – Rappler.com