MANILA, Philippines — Manila Electric Company (Meralco) said on Tuesday that electricity rates would go down this month, compared to August due to an expected lower generation charge brought by a stronger Philippine peso against the US dollar.

"We expect a lower generation charge to pull the overall rate downwards this September," Joe R. Zaldarriaga, Meralco vice president and head of Corporate Communications, said in a statement.

"This development was able to more than offset the cost recovery of SMC Global Power Holdings Corporation for its terminated contracts, the implementation of which was given go signal by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) which began this month," he added.

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"Overall, we are optimistic that the reduction in generation charge will be able to offset increase in other bill components. We’re set to announce actual rate adjustment tomorrow," Zaldarriaga said.

Previously in August, Meralco announced an upward rate adjustment of P0.6268 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) due to higher generation and transmission charges, bringing the overall rate for a typical household to P13.2703 per kWh from P12.6435 per kWh back in July.

Meralco: Lower electricity rates expected for Sept

It added that for residential customers consuming 200 kWh, the adjustment is equivalent to an increase of around P125 in their total electricity bill.