MANILA - Meralco customers can expect lower rates this month thanks to cheaper generation and transmission charges. 

Meralco said its rates will reduced by P0.36 per kilowatt-hour in October, and that the overall rate will be P11.4295 +/kWh.

The power distributor said this translates into the following savings for customers:

Consumption  Bill Savings

200 kwh    P72

300 kwh    P108

400 kwh    P143

500 kwh    P179

Meralco said lower charges from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) offset the additional Malampaya costs.

"WESM charges decreased by P5.1001 per kWh following the completion last month of the collection of deferred 

May 2024 costs ordered by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC)," Meralco said. The improved supply situation in the Luzon grid also helped reduce costs as average demand and average capacity on outage went down  by 544 MW and 519 MW, respectively, the power distributor added.

Meanwhile, the rate charged by the National Grid Corp of the Philippines for power transmission also went down by P0.0383 per kWh due to lower ancillary service charges.

"Taxes and other charges similarly decreased by P0.0145 per kWh," Meralco added.

The power distributor also said that its distribution charge has not moved since the P0.0360 per kWh reduction for a typical residential customer in August 2022.