Saturday, July 21, 2007 Meralco explains high power rates
THE Manila Electric Company (Meralco) said the generation charge in the bill of its customers for June as reflected in the July bill increased by more than one peso per kilowatt hour (kwh) or from P4.4290 per kwh to P5.6764 per kwh.
"The increase in the July generation charge is to a large extent due to the prevailing high Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) prices which stood at P7.79 per kwh for the June supply month," said Meralco vice president and corporate communications head Elpi Cuna.
"We would like to make it clear that this is not a Meralco increase as this merely pertains to an adjustment in the cost of power we obtain from our suppliers. Such adjustment in the generation charge therefore is revenue neutral to Meralco," he added.
"In the past, our consumers have been shielded from increases in the cost of generation. This has been affecting our company's cash flow and cannot be sustained," Cuna said.
Cuna said Meralco has been absorbing the actual higher cost of generation which was not reflected in customers' bills for several months.
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), in its June 28, 2007 order, lifted its Sept. 1, 2006 order which stopped Meralco from collecting from its customers adjustments in its generation charge authorized under an automatic mechanism.
The June 28 order also directed Meralco to comply with the guidelines and in compliance, Meralco resumed its computation of the generation charge using actual generation costs for the supply month of June.
The updated charges are what are being reflected in the July 2007 bills of Meralco customers, Cuna said. (MSN/Sunnex)
