MANILA, January 10 ------ Meralco consumers can expect reduced electricity rates due to lower power prices at the wholesale electricity spot market. Water rates meanwhile will go up this month. Distribution utilities and electric cooperatives get a portion of their electricity supply from the spot market aside from supply contracts with power generators.
Meralco Spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga said he could not yet divulge the actual figure since not all cost components have been computed though preliminary figures point to a downward direction for the overall January 2025 rate. Meanwhile, Zaldarriaga said the imposition of the remaining 70% of ancillary services incurred by the National Grid Corp of the Philippines will fall in the February billing. That translates to an increase of P0.12/Kwh for Luzon consumers for 3 months beginning January, P0.12/kWh for Visayas consumers for 6 months starting January and P0.03/kWh for Mindanao consumers for 3 months. But also in February, the Energy Regulator Commission ordered private utilities like Meralco to refund the regulatory rate reset fees charged to consumers over the years. That results in a refund of P0.23/kWh for Meralco customers.
Maynilad and Manila Water are implementing the 3rd tranche of the rate increase approved by the MWSS regulatory office. For Manila Water, the actual average increase is P7.58/cubic meter for sewered lines and P5.95/cubic meter for unsewered lines like residential customers. From an average tariff of P55.08/cu meter, it will increase to P61.04/cu meter for manila water. For Maynilad, the actual average increase is P8.11/cubic meter for sewered lines and P7.32/cu meter for unsewered lines. From an average tariff of P58.30 cu meter, Maynilad's average tariff is now P65.62/ cubic meter starting January 2025.
The Commission on Audit has asked MWSS corporate office to collect from Maynilad P5.1 billion in government claim. In its annual audit report for 2023, state auditors said the amount includes borrowing costs and penalties due to delayed remittance of concession fees. MWSS Division Manager Patrick Dizon says they are coordinating with the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel on how to proceed with the collection.
Dizon says the collectible will not be written off as MWSS hopes to come up with a legal solution on how to settle the P5.1 billion debt. For its part, Maynilad says it has not received any new communication from the MWSS-CO. "Maynilad has not received any new communication from the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) regarding the recent Commission on Audit (COA) report recommending the collection of a Php5 billion government claim from Maynilad. We will await official communication from MWSS on this matter and will provide our comments at the appropriate time," it said.
Source: news.abs-cbn.com
Comments