By MYRNA M. VELASCO With the ₱1.0479 per kilowatt-hour (kwh) escalation of prices in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), customers of Manila Electric Company (Meralco) will have to brace for slight increase of ₱0.0278 per kwh in their electricity bills this month to ₱8.8901 per kwh from last month’s ₱8.8623 per kwh. The generation charge component of the electricity tariff had been up to ₱4.6632 per kwh this billing cycle from the February level of ₱4.5090 per kwh. Overall, for customers in the 200-kWh usage bracket, which is the most typical band for many households, the increase shall be roughly ₱6.00. For the other charges, such as the ancillary services charge of National Grid Corporation of the Philippines as well as taxes and other charges, they had been lower by ₱0.1264 per kwh. “After a cumulative reduction of ₱1.00 per kilowatt-hour in the past two months, the rates for March will go up, mainly due to increased WESM charges,” Meralco Vice President Lawrence S. Fernandez has indicated. He explained that during the February supply month, there had been more power plants undergoing scheduled maintenance, hence, triggering the spikes in the spot market due to tightening of available supply. And as hotter temperatures kicked in, the utility firm emphasized that “demand also went up” during the last supply month – and such will be correspondingly reflected in this billing cycle. Meralco said it is still compiling data on the power plants on outage, but it qualified that these shutdowns are mainly in preparation for the summer months. Nonetheless, Fernandez noted “the higher generation cost will be mitigated by the refunds of pass-through charges ordered by the Energy Regulatory Commission,” in which the utility firm’s mandated refund amounts to ₱0.05 per kwh (exclusive of taxes) for residential end-users and to be spread over three months. “These adjustments, to be implemented for a period of three months, are incorporated in the generation, transmission, system loss charges and subsidies.” Meralco said while the regulatory body had undertaken confirmation process on the pass-on of universal charge on stranded contract costs, it “found under-recoveries for some components and over-recoveries for others, resulting in a net over-recovery,” hence, that will warrant a refund.