Meralco customers are paying slightly less for electricity this month. It’s the second straight month the power distributor has cut rates.

Meralco cut its overall rate by P0.0409 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for September. That brings the rate for a typical household to P14.7424/kWh, down from P14.7833/kWh in August, Inquirer, ABS-CBN News and the Philippine News Agency (PNA) reported on Sept. 11.

How Much You’ll Save

For residential customers consuming 200 kWh, the cut means a reduction of about P8 in the total bill, according to Meralco Vice President and Head of Corporate Communications Joe Zaldarriaga, as quoted by Inquirer and PNA.

Daily Tribune reported the savings for bigger households:

• 200 kWh: about P8 lower
• 300 kWh: about P12 lower
• 400 kWh: about P16 lower
• 500 kWh: about P20 lower

“This follows a rate decrease Meralco implemented last month, and we hope that this will somehow provide relief to our customers,” Zaldarriaga said in a statement, according to Inquirer and PNA.

In August, Meralco cut rates by P0.0428/kWh, Tribune reported.

Why Rates Went Down

The reduction came mainly from lower ancillary service charges and lower taxes. These more than offset a higher generation charge, ABS-CBN News and PNA reported.

According to ABS-CBN News:

• Ancillary service charges fell by P0.3344/kWh because of lower charges from the reserve market.

• Taxes and other charges dropped by P0.1657/kWh.

Meralco attributed the lower taxes to “the completion of the Malampaya gas facility’s maintenance shutdown that enabled the First Gas/Prime CoreGen plants to fully utilize indigenous natural gas, which is exempt from value-added tax (VAT),” PNA and ABS-CBN News reported.

Generation charges went up because of the peso’s depreciation and higher fuel costs amid Middle East tensions, ABS-CBN News reported.

Two Refunds Continue

Customers also continue to benefit from two regulator-mandated refunds totaling P1.0139/kWh, according to PNA, ABS-CBN News and Tribune.

Tribune noted that pass-through charges for generation, transmission, and ancillary services go to power suppliers and the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP). Taxes, universal charges and other public policy charges are remitted to the government.

Meralco’s own distribution charge for a typical residential customer has not moved since August 2022, Tribune reported.

What’s Next

Meralco announces its rates monthly. Whether the downtrend continues depends on the October adjustment, which had not been announced as of this writing.