IN an advisory issued by the Manila Eletric Company (Meralco), the utility firm said it will implement a P0.54 per kilowatt hour increase in Meralco’s electricity rates for the month of April.
According to the electric company, the power rates went up due to an increase in the generation charge that resulted from the high selling price of electricity in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market.
The increase was also the result of the use of fuel by power plants and the weakening of the peso against the dollar.
The increase in electricity rates will be equivalent to an additional charge of P107 for customers that consume 200 per kwh of electricity and P268 for those who consume 500 per kwh.
It can be recalled that Meralco was supposed to increase power rates by more than P0.54 because of additional charges by power producers but the power company decided to comply with the call by the Energy Regulatory Commission to suspend the increase.
This will be the second month that an increase in power rates was implemented by Meralco.