MERALCO, the country’s biggest power distributor, attributes the record rate increase to the scheduled maintenance for the Malampaya natural gas platform, which forced the company to get the bulk of its supply from the Wholesale Electricity Market (WESM).
The generation charge, the largest component in the electricity bill, is the cost of power Meralco purchases from its suppliers. Meralco said that maintenance shutdown in a number of power plants and outages in several others prompted more expensive power sourcing. This will translate to an additional P247 in the bill for November.
In their presentation with the Bloggers in an intimate dinner, Electricity rates for November will increase by P1.24 per kilowatt hour (kWh) for a typical household with monthly consumption of 200kWh due to higher generation and other charges.
To mitigate the impending increase, Meralco urged its customers to manage their electricity consumption. For the holiday season, Meralco recommended the use of light emitting diode (LED) Christmas lights, which consume less electricity compared to ordinary Christmas lights. Meralco also said that appliances should be maintained in top condition to maximize their reliability and efficiency.
The adjusted rates will appear in the next billing statement of Meralco customers.
Thank you for reading this post! If you like this post, please share it on Facebook, Twitter or Google+. Invite us to your events and gatherings for a write-up or coverage: press/blog conferences, product launching, food tasting, demonstrations, exhibits, advocacy events, etc. If you have something to say – comments, suggestions, reactions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below. For more, email us at aolionheart@yahoo.com
