POWER consumers will see their electricity bills rise this month as the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) increased its rates owing to higher tariff imposed by the National Power Corp. (Napocor).

According to Meralco, the January generation charge went up by 31 centavos a kilowatt-hour (kWh) mainly because Napocor increased its rates by 44 centavos a kWh.

The bulk of Napocor increase was attributed to higher Generation Rate Adjustment Mechanism (GRAM) Deferred Accounting Adjustment (DAA), which enable Napocor to cover the difference between its allowable fuel and purchased power costs and the amounts recovered through its regulator-approved basic generation rate for a given period.

In its advisory to Meralco, Napocor said that it shortened the recovery period of the GRAM DAA from 55 months to 36 months starting November 2012.

“Thus, for the December 2012 Napocor bill to Meralco, there was a higher current GRAM DAA of 15.5 centavos per kWh and an additional GRAM DAA collection for November equivalent to 12 centavos per kWh,” Napocor added.

The higher Napocor charges, however, were partly offset by a 9 centavos reduction in independent power producer (IPP) prices, following improved plant dispatch levels and a 17 centavos reduction in Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) charges.

Meralco said that a household consuming 200 kWh a month will see rates going up by 36 centavos a kWh.

“Payment for the generation charge goes to the power suppliers such as Napocor, the IPPs and WESM. The rest of the pass-through costs include transmission, taxes and other charges. Meralco’s distribution, supply and metering charges account for only about 16 percent of the total electricity bill,” Meralco said.