Meralco announces lower rates in February 

Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) announced a decrease in power rates for February, on the back of lower generation charges during the period, according to a report by GMA News.

Meralco said the overall rates for a typical household decreased by 7.04 centavos per kilowatt-hour (/kWh) in February to P8.6793/kWh from P8.7497 in January.

This is equivalent to a decrease of around P14 in the total bill of residential customers consuming 200kWh, P21 for 300kWh, P28 for 400kWh, and P35 for 500kWh.

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"The reduction in generation charge this month is due to lower fixed charges from the Power Supply Agreements (PSA)," Meralco said in an advisory.

Transmission charges likewise dropped by 1.28 centavos due to lower ancillary service charges, while taxes and other charges declined by 1.54 centavos/kWh.

The February rate follows the hike implemented in January, and still includes adjustments for the pass-through recoveries from January 2017 to December 2019.

To recall, the ERC in December directed Meralco to refund over-recoveries in transmission and other charges in a three-month period until fully refunded, with a net refund of 11.50/Kwh to residential customers.

However, it was also directed to collect an under-recovery in the generation rate for 24 months.

Just last week Meralco said it will comply with the government directive to extend further the no-disconnection policy for lifeline customers or those with low monthly electricity consumption.

This comes as Malacañang earlier announced that President Rodrigo Duterte approved the Department of Energy’s (DOE) recommendation to extend the policy for the whole month of February.

"We will comply with the government's directive and will wait for the specific guidelines from the Department of Energy. We would like to assure our customers that we will continue to assist all of them in addressing their billing issues," Joe Zaldarriaga, Meralco spokesperson, said in a separate statement.

Meralco constructs, operates, and maintains electric distribution systems in the cities and municipalities of Bulacan, Cavite, Metro Manila, and Rizal, as well as certain areas in the provinces of Batangas, Laguna, Pampanga, and Quezon.

Shares in the company opened Monday at P293.00 apiece, down from last Friday's finish of P293.80 per share.