Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is considering to apply the proposed power rate hike after summer months to spare consumers from getting electricity bills with overlapping rate adjustments. The petition is only an amendment to the Php 4.56 per Kwh power rate increase earlier filed by Meralco for it's January billing after the Philippine Electric Market Corp. (PEMC) released it's recalculated generation costs. bringing down the new rate hike to Php 0.45 per Kwh. ERC Dir. Digal of the Regulatory Operations Service said should it be approved the ERC may impose the proposed power rate hike after the summer months when the demand for electricity is no longer high. She said that while the rate hike petition is relatively small the ERC would still want to avoid electricity overlapping costs. Moreover the ERC director said they may also order a staggered rate adjustment for more than 6 months to cushion it's impact on consumers. Meralco asked to implement it in 6 months but Digal stressed ERC could veto that. The new rate hike petition is a result of the ERC ordered released on Mar. 3, 2014 ordering the PEMC to recalculate the generation cost of in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) which the ERC said is unjustified. While it's only an ammendment the ERC will start a new hearing of the petition. The decision may be issued with 30 to 75 days depending on the progress of the proceedings.
