Higher electric bills for November
Last October, the Manila Electric Company announced a power rate cut which was good news to its consumers. This month however, Meralco said consumers should expect an increased electricity bills. The higher electric bill for November, according to Meralco was due to the hike in the cost powers supplied by power generation companies.
The electric company said that electric bills will be higher by 25 centavos per kilowatt-hour. Households consuming 100 kWh of electricity a month will see their bills rise by P25, while those consuming up to 200 kWh should be expecting their bills to increase by P50.
The November increase was actually 32.7 centavos per kWh, according to Ivanna dela PeГ±a, Meralco vice president for utility economics. She said this was after the generations charge rose to P4.2286 per kWh.
The increase in generation was due to a number of factors. These include the lower volume of electricity supplied by the independent power producers (IPPs), following reduced consumption during the October supply month (September 26 to October 25).
Dela Peña said the decline was attributed to the series of typhoons that hit Manila and other parts of Luzon, which in turn, caused massive power outages. “Add to this the prolonged power outages in some portions of the Meralco franchised area resulting from the trouble in one of the transformers in the Dolores Substation of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines,” Dela Peña noted.
However, despite the increase this month, Dela PeГ±a said that the current generation charge is still lower than levels during previous months, which had peaked at P5.02 per kwh April. She stressed that it is in fact lower than the P4.26 per kWh generation charge in June and July 2009. This is also the first time in six months that generation charge has increased.
November 6, 2009
Tags: Consumers, consumption, electric bills, electricity, generation charge, Meralco, Philippines Posted in: Announcement, Consumers, Philippine business news, Philippines, Pricing
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