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MANILA
Electric Co. (Meralco), the country’s largest power
distributor, said that the Freedom from Debt Coalition’s
(FDC) statement that Meralco rates are the highest in
the country and that its distribution charges apply only
to its residential and general service (RGS) customers
that consume more than 400 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per
month.
In a
statement, Meralco said that these customers comprise
less than 10 percent of Meralco’s total customer base.
“It is
unfortunate that the FDC, in its haste, based its
conclusion on the bills of high-consuming residential
customers whose distribution charge is P1.6615 per kWh.
Almost 70 percent of all RGS customers, or close to
three million, pay only one-third of that at a
distribution charge of P0.5729 a kWh,” said Elpi Cuna,
Meralco vice president for corporate communications.
In the
unbundled rates approved by the Energy Regulatory
Commission in 2003, Cuna said the distribution charge to
RGS customers vary.
For the
three million, or 69 percent, consuming not more than
200 kWh, the distribution charge is P0.5729 a kWh; those
consuming from 201 kWh to 300 kWh, or some 600,000
customers, are charged P0.8765 a kWh; those whose
consumptions fall within 301 kWh to 400 kWh, or 7
percent of Meralco total customers, pay P1.1628 a kWh;
and only those consuming beyond 400 kWh pay P1.6615 per
kilowatt hour.
“The FDC
should have been more thorough in its study in order to
avoid misleading the people. It seems that its members
are in the high-consuming range, certainly not
representative of the low-consuming residential
customers that comprise the broad majority of Meralco
customers,” said Cuna.
For
commercial and industrial customers, Cuna said that the
combined Meralco charges, consisting of distribution,
supply and metering, on the average was only P0.6858 a
kWh and P0.3198 a kWh, respectively, in June this year.
He added
that this translates to 8.6 percent of the average
commercial bill, and 4.6 percent for the industrial
customers.
Cuna
said that total Meralco charges comprised only 12.45
percent of the average unbundled bill in June 2007,
while the remaining 87.55 percent is for collection of
pass-through charges (generation, transmission, system
loss), cross-subsidies, universal charges and taxes.
“It is
critical in the power-delivery supply chain that the
utility provides value for what its customers pay. We
are very concerned with our ability to deliver the level
of service expected of us,” Cuna said.
While
Meralco agrees with the FDC’s argument on customer
density, Cuna stressed that around 70 percent of the
company’s franchise and service area are actually in the
rural regions, and that a significant portion of these
areas, particularly those in the provinces, are
characterized by low customer densities.
“So to
compare our area with Metro Cebu and Davao City as a
whole is unfair and misleading. It is like comparing
apples with oranges,” he added. |
