meralco customers have
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Meralco customers to have lower electricity rates in August 2026

ByJustpaste.in

MANILA, Philippines – Meralco customers will see slightly lower electricity rates in August, as a multibillion-peso refund ordered by regulators offsets increases in several pass-through charges.

The Manila Electric Company (Meralco) said on Monday, August 10, that the overall rate for a typical household will decrease by P0.0428 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to P14.7833 from P14.8261 per kWh in July.

“For residential customers of Meralco who are consuming 200 kWh, this adjustment translates to a reduction of around P9 in the total electricity bill,” Meralco vice president and head of corporate communications Joe Zaldarriaga said.

The decrease comes largely from a P9.5-billion refund approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), equivalent to P0.5861 per kWh for residential customers and to be implemented over six months.

The refund covers the difference between Meralco’s Actual Weighted Average Tariff (AWAT) and its approved distribution tariff from January to December 2025. It will appear as “AWAT Refund/(Collect) 2” under the distribution portion of customers’ bills. This is separate from an existing AWAT refund worth P0.4278 per kWh.

However, the reduction was tempered by higher pass-through costs, or charges Meralco collects before remitting them to power suppliers, the grid operator, and the government.

Charges related to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines increased by P0.3024 per kWh due to higher ancillary service costs, while taxes and other charges rose by a net P0.2113 per kWh. The latter includes a P0.1348-per-kWh increase in the Feed-In Tariff Allowance and around P0.04 per kWh in additional taxes related to greater use of liquefied natural gas and liquid condensate during the Malampaya gas facility’s shutdown. Generation charges also edged up P0.0296 per kWh.

At the same time, the ERC authorized Meralco to collect P8.7 billion in previously underrecovered pass-through costs from 2011 to 2022. The adjustment averages around P0.0803 per kWh and is expected to be collected over 36 months. The additional collections for generation, transmission, and system loss will be reflected under their respective bill components.

The inclusion of system loss comes as the government separately moves to stop utilities from passing these costs on to consumers. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. called for their removal in his latest State of the Nation Address, arguing consumers should not pay for electricity lost through the network or stolen through illegal connections. (WATCH: How much could you save if system loss charges are removed from your Meralco bill?)

The Department of Energy and Congress are now working on regulatory and legislative changes, although officials have said eliminating technical losses will require utilities to upgrade infrastructure.

Meralco said its actual distribution charge for a typical residential customer has remained unchanged since August 2022. – Rappler.com

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