Photo by Roman Castillo on Pexels.com
While this week’s projected decrease in fuel prices may give a momentary relief amid the ongoing energy emergency situation, households served by the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) will see higher electricity bills this month as the utility firm announced a ₱0.5335 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) increase in residential power rates. According to Meralco, the increase will raise the overall rate to ₱14.3496 per kWh from ₱13.8161 per kWh in last month’s electricity bills.
The adjustment showed that for a household consuming 200 kWh, the increase means an estimated ₱107 uppage in the monthly electricity bill.
Meralco attributed the rate hike as primarily driven by the continued weakening of the Philippine peso against the US dollar, which significantly raised generation costs for dollar-denominated power supply contracts. As of press time, the exchange rate has been pegged at ₱60.748 to the US dollar.
Based on official estimates, the generation charge rose by ₱0.5257 per kWh, climbing to ₱8.3864 per kWh from ₱7.8607 per kWh in March the current year.