Consumers of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) finally have lower electricity bills this January after two straight months of rate hikes due to lower generation and transmission costs.
In a statement, Meralco said that there will be a decrease of P0.2189 per kilowatt hour (kWh) in the electricity rate for January, lowering the overall rate for a typical household to P11.7428 from P11.9617 per kWh last month.
Hence, residential customers consuming 200 kWh will see a reduction of approximately P43.78 in their electricity bill this month.
Meralco attributed the decrease to lower charges from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) and Independent Power Producers (IPPs) which decreased by P0.8840 per kWh and P0.1593 per kWh, respectively.
Transmission and other fees also experienced a net decrease of P0.0876 per kWh.
Meanwhile, Meralco’s distribution charge has remained unchanged since the P0.0360 per kWh reduction for typical residential customers in August 2022.
“Pass-through charges for generation and transmission are paid to the power suppliers and the grid operator, respectively, while taxes, universal charges, and Feed-in Tariff Allowance (FIT-All) are all remitted to the government,” Meralco said.
“While electricity rates decreased this month, we would like to remind our customers to continue practicing energy efficiency as a way of life especially with the dry season is fast approaching,” Meralco Vice President and Head of Corporate Communications Joe R. Zaldarriaga said. (TCSP)
