Manila Electric Company reduced its overall electricity rate by P0.0428 per kilowatt-hour for August 2026, bringing the rate for a typical residential customer to P14.7833 per kWh. The cut, driven by a P9.5-billion refund the Energy Regulatory Commission ordered the utility to return to customers, marks the first rate decrease after several months of increases.
Key Facts At A Glance
- New August 2026 overall rate: P14.7833 per kWh, down from P14.8261 in July
- Rate reduction: P0.0428 per kWh
- Estimated bill impact for a 200 kWh residential customer: about P9 lower
- Estimated bill impact for 300, 400, and 500 kWh customers: roughly P13, P17, and P21 lower, respectively
- Driver: ERC-ordered refund of P9.51 billion, equivalent to P0.5861 per kWh for residential customers, to be applied over six months starting August
- Refund stems from the Actual Weighted Average Tariff true-up process covering January to December 2025
- Offsetting increases: ancillary service charges up P0.3024 per kWh, taxes and other charges up P0.2113 per kWh, generation charge up P0.0296 per kWh
- Announcement made by Meralco on August 10, 2026
Manila Electric Company said Monday that its electricity rate for August would decrease by P0.0428 per kilowatt-hour, the first reduction in months following a string of increases tied to elevated fuel and power costs. The adjustment lowers the overall rate for a typical household to P14.7833 per kWh from P14.8261 per kWh in July (rappler.com).
The reduction is primarily the result of a refund the Energy Regulatory Commission ordered Meralco to return to customers. The ERC directed the utility to refund P9.51 billion, equivalent to P0.5861 per kWh for residential customers, following its review and confirmation of the true-up calculation of the Actual Weighted Average Tariff for the period January 2025 through December 2025 (gmanetwork.com). The refund will appear on customer bills as “AWAT Refund/(Collect) 2” under the distribution portion of the statement, and will be spread over a six-month period beginning this August (manilatimes.net).
Meralco Vice President and Head of Corporate Communications Joe Zaldarriaga said the refund was the main driver of the month’s overall reduction, explaining that it was able to offset increases in other bill components (gmanetwork.com). Those offsetting increases included a rise in ancillary service charges of P0.3024 per kWh, a net increase in taxes and other charges of P0.2113 per kWh, and a P0.0296 per kWh increase in the generation charge, which Meralco attributed to higher costs from its First Gas and Prime CoreGen suppliers (gmanetwork.com).
For residential customers consuming 200 kWh a month, the adjustment translates to a bill reduction of roughly P9. Households consuming 300, 400, and 500 kWh could see estimated reductions of about P13, P17, and P21, respectively (thesummitexpress.com). Meralco Head for Utility Economics Lawrence Fernandez said that for a typical 200 kWh household, the AWAT refund component alone amounts to a P117 deduction on the bill (gmanetwork.com).
Collection of the P0.0371 per kWh Green Energy Auction Allowance remained suspended for August under a separate ERC order. Meralco’s actual distribution charge for a typical residential customer has not changed since August 2022, and the current refund is on top of an existing, separate refund of P0.4278 per kWh already being applied to residential bills (manilatimes.net).
Publicly available reporting on this development centers on the ERC-ordered refund and its interaction with other pass-through charges; details on the underlying AWAT true-up calculation methodology were not extensively covered in available sources.