The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has approved a staggered billing scheme with proposed by Manila Electric Company’s (Meralco) plan to implement a P3.44 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) increase in its generation charges. The approval by ERC was announced on Monday, December 9, 2013.
ABS-CBN reported that under the staggered scheme, increase in charges in December will be P2.41 per kilowatt hour; P1.21 per kilowatt hour in February 2014; and P0.53 per kilowatt hour in March 2014.
The Meralco power hike increase of P3.44 will translate into an additional P688 charge for consumers averaging 200 kWh of electricity usage per month.
ERC Chairperson Zenaida Cruz-Ducut was quoted in a letter stating “The ERC grants Meralco the clearance it seeks to stagger implementation of its generation cost recovery by way of an exception to the AGRA (Automatic Generation Rate Adjustment) rules,” she said as reported by Rappler.
The Meralco wrote to the ERC last December 5 seeking clearance to stagger collection of its generation costs for the November 2013 supply month to lessen the impact on consumers.
The main reasons of Meralco’s increase in generation charges was due to the maintenance shutdown of the Malampaya facility and the outage of other power plants where it sources its power requirements from.
The Philippine President, Pres. Benigno Simeon Aquino on his part is considering tapping the Malampaya funds to cushion the impact of the power rate hike on consumers.