THE Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) announced that electricity rates for October will go up to P15.0615 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) from P14.7424 per kWh in September.
For residential customers of Meralco who are consuming 200 kWh, this adjustment translates to an increase of around P64 in the total electricity bill.
Meralco said the increase was due to a higher generation charge component for the period, which went up by P0.4973 per kWh.
Meralco said the transmission charge component was lower in October. The ancillary service charge for residential customers went down by P0.1321 per kWh in October due to lower charges from the Reserve Market, while the transmission charge also slightly decreased by P0.0063 per kWh. Together, these brought down NGCP charges by P0.1384 per kWh.
Despite the P0.0634 per kWh increase in universal charge for missionary electrification in accordance with a recent directive by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), Meralco said its taxes and other charges still registered a net decrease of P0.0398 per kWh.
Taxes decreased by P0.1436 per kWh in October due to a higher share of indigenous natural gas which is exempt from value-added tax (VAT) and the removal of the VAT on the system loss charge.
Meralco said that pass-through charges for generation, transmission, and ancillary service are paid by the company to the power suppliers and the NGCP, respectively, while taxes, universal charges, and other public policy charges are all remitted to the government and the relevant agencies.
The ERC has approved Meralco’s application to refund P2.64 billion, equivalent to an average refund rate of P0.1020 per kWh for all customer classes and a higher P0.1733 per kWh for residential customers, to be implemented beginning November 2026 billing over six months or until such time the full amount has been fully refunded.
