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Brace yourself for some serious agony.
“The Luzon grid is not out of the woods yet, as the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) served notice on Friday, May 15, that rates may spike next month amid the limited natural gas coming from the Malampaya,” reports Michelle Orosa-Ople on InterAksyon.com.
The report noted: “This is contrary to Meralco’s earlier statement that rates should trend downwards after the private operator of the Malampaya natural gas platform completed the one-month repair and rehabilitation of the facility without upsetting the Luzon grid’s power supply.”
Meralco cited the following reasons for the rate hike:
1. The limited amount of natural gas coming from the Malampaya, which nearly halved production at the Ilijan power plant (which is operated Ilijan by the Korea Electric Power or KEPCO) to 780 megawatts (MW) from its capacity of 1,200 MW.
2. The limited supply of Malampaya natural gas, which has forced the Sta. Rita and San Lorenzo plants to again resort to the more expensive liquid condensate.
Photo: MorgueFile
