Palace distances on power rates hike starting July

MALACANANG distanced on Saturday on the looming power rates hike in July.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte, in an interview over dzRB Radyo ng Bayan, said the decision to increase electricity rates was done by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), a body independent of the Department of Energy (DOE).

"We don't have any control on that...we will leave it up to the ERC to answer what's the basis for saying that there should be a hike for the customers, for the clients of this particular distributor," she said.

The ERC has approved the provisional authority to the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) to implement new charges for regulatory year 2013 for the period of July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013.

With this, starting July, Meralco customers will be charged by additional three centavos per kilowatt-hour to P1.6303.

At the same time, Valte said there is no more looming power outage in Luzon, including Metro Manila.

She said the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) has successfully hurdled the yellow alert or the thin power supply reserves.

"And because of the tight monitoring and coordination between NGCP, which is between DOE and Meralco, there was no more blackout as feared by some during the past week," she said.

A unit of Sual power plant in Pangasinan tripped last week, resulting in thin supply of energy in the Luzon grid. (SDR/Sunnex)