Have any questions about your high electric bill? Find out in this article how to compute your Meralco bill.
Nothing says adulting more than paying bills. And because we’re home more often than before, one of the bills that we’re not looking forward to receiving is our electricity bill.
Of course, receiving high electricity bills every month is daunting, especially during this pandemic. So, to understand our monthly bills further, let’s find out what contributes to our electricity bills.
But before you learn how to compute your Meralco bill, let us refresh your memories for a bit.
Refresher
To recall, the first summertime of the COVID-19 pandemic shocked most Filipinos upon receiving unusually high electricity bills.
The Manila Electric Company (Meralco) explained that March and April 2020 bills were estimated based on the past 3 months’ average daily consumption following the Distribution Services and Open Access Rules (DSOAR) issued by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
In May 2020, Meralco explained why there was a sudden increase in the electric bill of consumers for May. Nonetheless, in July 2020, Meralco apologized for bill shock during the lockdown.
Moving forward, let’s learn more about the certain factors that affect the computation of our bills.
Factors to consider when computing for your electricity bill
Image from iStock
Were you surprised to see so many digits on your electricity bill? Here are some things that might have contributed to that:
1. Increased electricity usage and consumption
Everyone’s at home, so appliances are switched on most of the time, especially fans and air conditioning units (AC). With more people at home using appliances (TV, electric fan, computer, game console, air conditioner, etc.) for longer periods, there would be higher electricity usage and consumption.
Meanwhile, Meralco Powerlab estimates a 25% to 40% increase in electricity consumption during the summer months, even without increasing usage.
2. Higher temperature and Heat Index
As of May 5, 2021, Earth Shaker PH has recorded a 42°C Heat Index at Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay City. Due to the hot weather, the appliances with compressors such as ACs and refrigerators work harder to cope up with the temperature. Thus, the hotter it is outside, the harder our ACs have to work to keep our homes at our preferred temperatures.
3. Rising electricity rates
Another factor for your high electricity bill may be higher is because electricity could be more expensive. One of the keys to understanding your bill is to learn more about the electricity rates and charges.
Some charges on your Meralco bill
Cannot decipher the other charges that add on to your bill? Here’s a list of the additional charges and what they actually mean:
4. Generation Charge (50.16%)
Half of the charges go to Generation Charge. It is identified as the cost that goes to the generation companies that supply power. It comprises the cost of power purchased by Meralco from its suppliers – Independent Power Producers (IPPs), power producers with Power Supply Agreements (PSAs) with Meralco, power producers using Renewable Energy and the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market.
5. Transmission Charge (7.24%)
This charge is for the cost of delivery of electricity from power suppliers – usually located in other provinces or remote areas outside the distribution utility’s franchise area – to Meralco’s distribution system.
This is paid to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), the transmission service provider.
6. System Loss Charge (3.35%)
It is identified as the cost-recovery of power lost due to technical and non-technical system losses. Meralco mentioned that the maximum level of losses that may be recovered by private distribution utilities was set at 9.5% by Republic Act No. 7832, which was reduced to 8.5% starting 2010, as provided under ERC Resolution No.17, Series of 2008.
7. Distribution Charge (24.85%)
This is the only portion of the bill that goes to Meralco. It covers the cost of developing, constructing, operating, and maintaining the distribution system of the company, which delivers power from high-voltage transmission grids to commercial and industrial establishments and residential end-users.
8. Metering Charge
This is the charge for the cost of reading, operating, and maintaining power metering facilities and associated equipment, as well as other costs attributed to the provision of metering service.
9. Supply Charge
This is for the cost of rendering service to customers such as billing, collection, customer assistance, and other associated services.
10. Subsidies (0.95%)
Lifeline and Senior Citizen Subsidies – This is for the marginalized, low-income customers and senior citizens who consume up to 100 kWh in a month. They can get a discount of up to 5%, an amount which all other customers subsidize.
11. Government Taxes (10.14%)
This includes Local Franchise Tax, Value Added Tax, and Tax Recovery Adjustment Charge (TRAC).
12. Universal Charges (2.20%)
Covers Missionary Electrification Charge, Environmental Charge, and Stranded Contract Cost of NPC.
13. Feed-in-Tariff Allowance or FIT-ALL (1.09%)
It is an additional tariff, imposed on consumers of electric power, to be paid to renewable energy producers.
The mentioned charges above can be found at the back of our Meralco bills.
As of April 2021, the prices of charges per kWh are as follows:
- Generation Charge – PHP 4.5370
- Transmission Charge – PHP 0.6553
- System Loss Charge – PHP 0.3027
- Distribution Charge (Meralco)
- 0 to 200 kWh – PHP 1.0012
- 201 to 300 kWh – PHP 1.3183
- 301 to 400 kWh – PHP 1.6175
- Over 400 kWh – PHP 2.1387
- Metering Charge – PHP 0.3377 | Fixed Metering Charge (per customer) – PHP 5
- Supply Charge – PHP 0.5085 | Fixed Supply Charge (per customer) – PHP 16.73
- Subsidies – Lifeline Rate Subsidy – PHP 0.0887 | Senior Citizen Subsidy – PHP -0.0002
READ MORE:
6 parenting hacks on help you save your electric bill
Smart ways to start saving now
9 practical hacks to help you reduce your utility bill
14. How to compute your Meralco bill
Image from iStock
Here comes the juicy part. Learn how to compute your Meralco bill accurately using this step-by-step guide.
1. Learn how to read your electric meter
The meter reading is the basis of your monthly Meralco bill. The electric meter of your household continuously records your electricity consumption in kilowatt-hours (kWh). A Meralco meter reader records the reading on your meter.
To understand how the readings reflected on you bill check out the details below.
For digital meters, you may read the number in the digital display. For this case, the reading is 817 kWh.
On the other hand, Electromechanical Meters have four dials that record your electricity consumption. To read your electromechanical meter, look at the 4 dials (labeled A, B, C, and D in the picture below) in the meter.
Photo credits: Meralco
The meter reading can be seen at the back of your bill, under the “Metering Information” section. It shows your Meter Number, Pres Rdg (Present Reading), Prev Rdg (Previous Reading), Multiplier, and Registered.
The Registered indicates your registered kWh consumption for the month. It is obtained by the difference between your present reading and your previous reading times the multiplier. (Formula: Pres Rdg – Prev Rdg x Multiplier = Registered).
The Pres Rdg (568 kWh) on our April 2021 bill would be the Prev Rdg on our next bill. See the sample computation below.
- Pres Rdg – 817 kWh
- Multiplier – 1.0
- Prev Rdg – 568 kWh
- Computation: 817 kWh – 568 kWh x 1.0 = 249 kWh
Therefore, as of the writing, our consumption is 249 kWh.
If you are conscious about your consumption, you may monitor it daily, weekly, or monthly.
2. Compute your appliances electric consumption
To compute how many kWh an appliance uses, follow this formula:
Wattage/1,000 x number of hours the appliance is used
For a 1HP, 950-watt, non-inverter air conditioner, here’s a sample computation:
- 950 watts /1,000 = 0.95 x 10 hours = 9.5 kWh
- 9.5 kWh x PHP 8.9071/kWh = PHP 84.5595
To compute for your consumption, take into consideration the following:
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- Quantity and Duration of Use
Indeed, if you’re using air conditioners instead of electric fans, your electric consumption will be higher. However, if you’re using more than one electric fan for extended hours, then your electricity consumption will be the same as when you’re using an aircon.
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- Quality of Appliances in Use
Did you know that an older refrigerator consumes 66% more electricity[10] compared to a newer model of refrigerator? Every appliance loses its energy efficiency as it ages. If you know which appliances you’re using the most at home and their condition, you’ll have a good idea of how much your bill would be each month.
3. Manual computation
Follow these steps to manually estimate the electricity consumption of a specific device:
- Get your device’s wattage. Find this information at the bottom or back of the device, or in the owner’s manual. You may also try searching the device’s technical specs online.
- Compute the watts the device consumes daily. Multiplying the wattage by the average number of hours the device is used per day. Let’s say you use a 100-watt electric fan for 10 hours per day. Multiplying 100 watts by 10 hours will result in 1,000 watt-hours—that’s how much your electric fan consumes in a day.
- Convert watt-hours to kilowatts. Divide the device’s watt-hours by 1,000 to convert it to kilowatts, which is the unit of measurement used in a Meralco bill. In the example above, 1,000 watt-hours divided by 1,000 is equal to 1 kWh consumption per day.
- Compute the device’s monthly power consumption. Multiply your device’s daily kWh by 30 days to determine how much it consumes per month. The monthly usage for an electric fan consuming 1 kWh daily is 30 kWh.
List down the monthly electricity usage of your appliances and devices and rank them from highest to lowest. This will let you know which ones consume the most electricity and should be used less and unplugged more often.
4. Online Computation Using the Meralco Calculator
The formula discussed above is a just simplified approach to estimating your monthly electricity consumption. If you want to know the cost of using your home appliances and devices, use an online calculator that will compute it for you. You may use either the Meralco Appliance Calculator or Wattmatters Calculator.
How to use Meralco appliance calculator
The best way to compute electric consumption is to use the Meralco calculator, which is currently available on the Meralco Mobile app only.
You may access the Meralco Appliance Calculator without having to register for an account or logging in (if you already have an account).
After installing the Meralco mobile app, you can start computing the electricity cost of your appliances. Here’s how:
- Tap on the Appliance Calculator icon.
- Enter your average monthly bill amount. Just estimate the average based on your latest Meralco billing statements.
- Pick an appliance from the drop-down menu. Tap the Set button. The app will show you the appliance’s wattage.
- Choose the number of hours you use the appliance in a day. Also select the number of days in a week and weeks in a month the appliance is used.
- Tap the Calculate button. You’ll see the electricity cost per hour, day, week, and month of your appliance.
Using the Meralco Mobile app, you can compute only for one appliance at a time. You have to repeat the entire procedure if you want to compute your electricity cost for other appliances.
5. Online Computation Using the Wattmatters Calculator
How to compute your Meralco bill without downloading the Meralco app? A project by the Department of Energy that promotes energy efficiency, Wattmatters.org.ph has an online consumption calculator that lets you find out how much each of your appliances contributes to your monthly Meralco bill.
Unlike the Meralco Appliance Calculator, the Wattmatter Calculator allows computing for two or more appliances simultaneously to get your total monthly bill.
Here are the steps to compute your Meralco bill using the Wattmatters calculator:
- Go to Wattmatter’s Consumption Calculator page (wattmatters.org.ph/consumption/calc).
- Click the Calculate Now button.
- Select an appliance and the brand and model you have at home.
- Choose the number of hours you use the appliance per day.
- Enter your city or town.
- Click the Search icon. The system will show the electricity price per kWh for the appliance.
- Click the Calculate button to see the electricity cost of the appliance per day.
- Keep adding other appliances to the Meralco bill computation by repeating all the previous steps per appliance.
- After you’re done adding all your appliances, check your monthly bill at the bottom of the table.
Knowing how to compute the Meralco bill can save you a lot of stress come bills payment time. Understanding the factors that affect your monthly bill can help you cut down on electricity usage as well.
Just like paying for your Meralco bill, computing it in advance is somewhat painful but necessary to ensure your household electricity consumption is under control.
