A series of price rollbacks on retail electricity bills start this month, with power distribution utility Manila Electric Company (Meralco) indicating that a typical consumer could see the billing shrink by up to P700, depending on the actual relative consumption compared to the previous period.
The lower billing is the result of shaving PhP1.43 per kilowatt-hour consumed.
According to Ms. Abby Mendoza, Corporate Communication Associate of Meralco, this is the lowest rate seen in almost eight years, since December 2009.
This is actually in spite of a bump in the so-called fit-all rate for June 2017, in the amount of P0.0590/kWh, which is like a subsidy-reward to those engaged in the generation of renewable forms of energy.
Also part of the equation is a lower generation charge, in the amount of P1.02/kWh.
Plus the Energy Regulatory Commission-mandated refund corresponding to a staggered refund share from some P6.9 billion worth of overcharges from the year 2014.
The staggered refund, for the June to August billings, works out to P0.79/kWh for residential customers, and P0.75/kWh for industrial customers.
The good news, according to Larry Hernandez, Meralco’s Utility Economics Head, is that, with the onset of the wet season, power rates could go still lower on the back of greater capacity of the hydro-electric generating plants and the reduction of electricity demand for cooling that marked the dry season condition.
Click and watch the video report below:
