CONSUMERS will have to pay more for electricity and gasoline.
The price of gasoline per liter will go up by P0.30, starting Tuesday. Meanwhile, kerosene prices will go down by P0.20 per liter while diesel price remain unchanged.
For power rates, the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) announced an increase of P0.2331 per kilowatt hour (kWh) for October. This brings the overall rate for a typical household to P13.3182 per kWh this month from P13.0851 per kWh.
For residential customers consuming 200 kWh, the adjustment is equivalent to an additional P47 in their total electricity bill.
Generation charge, which is a major component of an electric bill, went up by P0.1903 per kWh.
Charges from Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and Power Supply Agreements (PSAs) increased by P0.3622 and P0.3567 per kWh, respectively, primarily due to the depreciation of the local currency against the US dollar, which affected 99 percent and 48 percent of their respective costs.
The increase was tempered by lower charges from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) that went down by P2.0688 per kWh owing to a decrease of about 1,000 MW in Luzon’s peak demand.
IPPs, PSAs, and WESM accounted for 21 percent, 74 percent, and 5 percent, respectively, of Meralco’s total energy requirement for the period.
Transmission, taxes, and other charges also registered a total increase of P0.0428 per kWh.
Pass-through charges for generation and transmission are paid by Meralco to the power suppliers and the grid operator, respectively, while taxes, universal charges, and Feed-in Tariff Allowance are all remitted to the government.
Meralco reiterates that its distribution charge, on the other hand, has not moved since the P0.0360 per kWh reduction for a typical residential customer beginning August 2022.
Customers also continue to benefit from the ongoing implementation of the distribution-related true-up adjustment, equivalent to a reduction of P0.2024 per kWh for residential customers.
With the recent earthquakes affecting parts of the country, Meralco assured its customers that it continuously safeguards its distribution facilities from potential hazards to ensure the safety of both of its crews and customers.