Meralco anticipates power rate decrease for March

Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) sees a lower electricity bill for the month of March as a drop in power generation charges is expected based on its initial projections.

In a statement sent to THEPHILBIZNEWS, Joe Zaldarriaga, Meralco spokesman and vice president said, “There is a strong likelihood that power rates for March 2021 will go down which was earlier projected and this will be the second consecutive month of decrease for the year. Early indications of generation charge show a possible downward movement due to lower average capacity on an outage in Luzon, which may be tempered by the recent peso depreciation.”

“But the main contributor to the decrease will be the inclusion of the average refund rate of P0.1528 per kWh, as part of Meralco’s Distribution Rate True-Up. On February 19, 2021, Meralco received a copy of the ERC Order dated January 27, 2021 granting the prayer of Meralco for the issuance of provisional authority, with the refund to be implemented in approximately twenty-four (24) months starting March 2021,” Zaldarriaga added.

Meralco’s refund rate will be reflected as a separate line item in the bills of the customers during the refund period.

This projected decrease in power rates will continue the downward trend in the cost of electricity, with overall rates have decreased by more than 1 peso per kilowatt-hour since the start of 2020.