Power rates slightly inch up in January

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The Manila Electric Company (Meralco) will implement a minimal power rate hike this month, the country's largest electric power distribution company said on Wednesday.

Meralco said it will slightly increase power rates by P0.0846 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), which brings the overall rate for a household to P11.3430 per kWh this month.

This means that P17 will be the increase in the total electricity bill of a customer consuming 200 kWh.

The electricity concessionaire attributed the increase to a higher generation charge by Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) and Independent Power Producers (IPPs) by P0.1136 to P6.6468 per kWh from P6.5332 last month.

WESM accounted for 20.5% of Meralco's total energy requirement while IPPs accounted for 36.5%.

According to Meralco, WESM charges spiked by P0.5611 per kWh due to higher average capacity on outage in the Luzon grid, which increased by around 418 megaWatts.

Charges from IPPs, on the other hand, also increased by P0.1384 per kWh due to higher fuel costs of its natural gas plants, Sta. Rita and San Lorenzo, from the use of imported liquefied natural gas.

Last month, Meralco dropped its power rates by P0.80 per kwh.