ERC approves Meralco petition for staggered payment in generation charge increase | ABS-CBN

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ERC approves Meralco petition for staggered payment in generation charge increase

ERC approves Meralco petition for staggered payment in generation charge increase

Alvin Elchico,

ABS-CBN News

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MANILA -- The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has approved Meralco's request to stagger for 3 months the increase in generation charges for the June 2024 billing.

But the ERC in a separate order also asked Meralco and other electric utilities and cooperatives to wait for the final statement or billing from the independent electricity market operator of the Philippines for the power purchased from the spot market.

Earlier, the ERC capped spot market prices during red alerts and yellow alerts in the Visayas and Luzon grids.

Meralco spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga said the final computation of the increase for June and succeeding months would come out by Thursday, when the first tranche of billing statement would be released.

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But sources said the overall charge adjustment would probably be around P0.50/kwh if staggered. If done in one tranche, the overall increase for June will be around P0.80 to P0.90/kwh.

Zaldarriaga said the initiative to stagger would help consumers cope with rising electricity costs, as consumption also rose in the last weeks due to consistent high temperatures.

ERC chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta said the staggering of generation charge cannot be done for all electric cooperatives since cooperatives are non-profit organizations.

Unlike Meralco and other private utilities, non-profit organizations do not have spare funds to cover for payments to power suppliers.

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