Power rates will be slightly higher this month, the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) said Wednesday.

In an advisory, Meralco announced that electricity rates will increase by P0.08 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), making the overall rate P11.34 per kWh from December’s P11.25 per kWh.

This is equivalent to an increase of around P17 for customers consuming 200 kWh.

Last December, power rat1es went down by P0.7961, bringing the overall rate to P11.2584 per KWh.

The price hike was due to the higher cost of power from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) and Independent Power Producers (IPP), Meralco said. Jaspearl Tan/DMS