Manila Electric Company (Meralco) customers could expect higher monthly electricity bills in 2023 after San Miguel’s South Premier Power Corp. (SPPC) ended its power supply agreement with the company, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) said.

In an interview with dzBB Thursday, ERC chief executive officer Monalisa Dimalanta said customers who consume 200 kilowatt hours (kWh) and above monthly may have to pay an additional P60 to P80 in their power bill.

On Wednesday, Meralco said it was negotiating with power generation companies to make up for the 670-megawatt (MW) it lost when SPPC ended its deal with them to prevent a price increase.

Dimalanta said that for now, Meralco will get its power supply from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).

The 670 MW from SPPC that Meralco lost covered more than 13 percent of its power supply, Dimalanta said.

“If you look at our computation, the 13 percent that I mentioned was priced at P4.30 per kWh. But if it will come from WESM…Last month, the WESM price was around P8.50 or we could say P9,” she said.

“If the difference will completely replace the P4.30 it will amount to…For example, if we consume 200 kWh a month, 13 percent of that will be changed from P4.30 to P8 or P9. So the price will increase by 30 centavos per kWh. So for those who consume 200 kWh, maybe they will have an additional P30, or P60 to P80 per month,” she added.

In November, the Court of Appeals issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) which resulted in the suspension of the power supply agreement between Meralco and SPPC for 60 days.

Meralco and SPPC previously filed a joint petition for a temporary rate hike for a “six-month relief” from the rising prices of fuel and gas restrictions issued by the government on the Malampaya gas facility.

This was rejected by the ERC, prompting the SPPC to permanently cease the power supply agreement starting Tuesday, December 7. Jaspearl Tan/DMS