The Manila Electric Company (Meralco) announced Tuesday an upward rate adjustment of P0.6268 per kWh this August due to higher pass-through charges.

This brings the overall rate for a typical household to P13.2703 per kWh from P12.6435 per kWh in the previous month.

For residential customers consuming 200 kWh, the adjustment is equivalent to an increase of around P125 in their total electricity bill.

The generation charge went up by P0.3749 per kWh primarily due to increases in charges from Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).

Charges from IPPs rose by P0.9476 per kWh due to the nearly P2.00 depreciation of the local currency against the US Dollar, marking its weakest level since the start of the year. This affected around 99 percent of IPP costs which were dollar denominated.

In addition, IPPs recorded lower average plant dispatch due to the scheduled maintenance of First Gas-Sta. Rita and First Gas-San Lorenzo from June 30 to July 9 and July 10 to July 14, respectively.

The rate of First Gas-San Lorenzo (500 MW) went up by P0.8570 per kWh to P9.0790 per kWh while that of First Gas-Sta. Rita (1,000 MW) jumped up by P0.8981 per kWh to P9.5235 per kWh.

WESM charges also went up by P0.4582 per kWh due to an almost 400 MW increase in average capacity on outage in the Luzon grid.

Tempering the higher IPP and WESM charges was a P0.2604 per kWh reduction in charges from Power Supply Agreements (PSAs) as a result of lower coal and liquified natural gas prices and improved average PSA dispatch.

IPPs, WESM, and PSAs accounted for 25%, 7%, and 68%, respectively, of Meralco’s total energy requirement for the period.

The transmission charge, another pass-through component of the electricity bill, also contributed to the higher August total rate as it went up by P0.1270 per kWh. The increase was due to the implementation of National Grid Corporation of the Philippines’ higher Maximum Allowable Revenue (MAR) and collection of its under-recovery for the years 2016 to 2022, as approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).

Other charges, including taxes, similarly registered a total increase of P0.1249 per kWh.

Pass-through charges for generation and transmission are paid by Meralco to the power suppliers and the grid operator, respectively, while taxes, universal charges, and Feed-in Tariff Allowance are all remitted to the government.

Meralco reiterates that its distribution charge, on the other hand, has not moved since the P0.0360 per kWh reduction for a typical residential customer beginning August 2022. Meralco