Customers of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) consuming 200 kilowatt-hours (kWh) could see an additional P60 to P80 in their monthly bills should the power utility giant continue to source more power from the spot market to replace the 670-megawatt (MW) supply from San Miguel Corp.
ERC chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta, in an interview with DZBB on Thursday, said the estimates were based on the agency’s computations assuming that Meralco would continue sourcing the entire 670 MW from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).
ERC records of Meralco billings for November 2022 showed that the 670 MW power supply deal with San Miguel accounted for 13.4 percent of the power distributor’s supply and priced at P4.2455 per kWh.
Dimalanta said average WESM price last month was at P8.50, or about P9.
“Yung 13 percent na yun papalitan mo from P4.30 to P8 or P9, tataas ang konsumo ng 30 centavos per kWh. So yung kumo-konsumo ng 200 kWh, tataas yung bill nya siguro ng mga P60 to P80 additional for the month,” she said.
Following the cessation of supply from San Miguel Global Power covering the 670 MW power supply agreement with South Premiere Power Corporation which was the subject of the recent 60-day temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the Court of Appeals, Meralco on Wednesday also started sourcing the supply covered by the PSA from WESM.
The country’s largest power distributor, however, said it was still negotiating with other generation companies to secure the 670 MW supply and shield its customers against volatile and potentially higher WESM prices.