All these talk about Meralco and the high cost of electricity has made me wonder what the average Filipino household’s power bill looks like.
To make the comparison fair, why don’t we divide our electricity bill with the number of persons living in the house, including babies. I think the little darlings consume a bigger amount of electricity compared with the average person (need for airconditioning etc.)
For April, I paid P805.88 per person.
How does that compare with yours?
***
Meralco shares went into a nosedive today after news of a possible investigation (good luck with making it look like a friendly Q&A) by Congress into how Meralco runs the show. If there’s anyone in the audience who doesn’t know that this is politically driven, raise your hand.
No hands?
If this entire hullabaloo actually brings down my electricity bill, goodie. But here’s a So What Chocnut snippet that people should not miss.
Exactly 20% of that electricity bill goes to Meralco. If you look at your bill, you will see the biggest portion is called generation charge, which goes to the independent power producers and the National Power Corp.
Yes, that means the government.
That simply means the power to bring down electricity rates is in the government’s hands. And that should make you wonder what the administration is trying to do. This early, the business community is already worried. Of course they are not buying the we-want-to-drive-down-electricity-costs-for-poor-Filipinos line. Former central bank governor and AIG’s standard bearer Joey Cuisia has already been interviewed on television saying, “After Meralco, who next?” Not good for business confidence.
May 20th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
I can not understand what is wrong with making money for GSIS.
May 20th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
salve, i never said there’s no room for morals in the pursuit of profit. When good people make money that doesn’t need explaining because to me that’s normal. When ‘evil’ people make money playing fair and square that needs explaining because to me that’s weird. The point really is to show the flaw of free market capitalism. I hope you get it.
May 20th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
pinoy investor, ROI being god in capital markets means there’s no room for morals. i get it. that’s just the way it is. that’s why naman i’m amazed with CEOs like Kimberly Clark’s Darwin Smith who pushed the company to beat the stock returns of well-known companies like P&G, Coca-Cola and Hewlett Packard without having to resort to flipping or hostile takeovers and being fair to employees. Going against greed is to me more amazing than just going for the gold and succeeding at it. but some people say i’m an idealist and i don’t deny it. cheers
May 20th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
salve, by ‘good’ investor, I mean shrewd not moral. But why do corporate raiders succeed despite being ‘evil’? Because boardroom battles are not decided by employees, customers, management gurus, social commentators or the general public. They are decided by fund managers and arbiteurs who hold large blocks of shares. By the nature of their job, they are obliged to vote the one who gives the highest ROI, or else they get sued or fired. Good or bad, that’s free market capitalism.
May 20th, 2008 at 4:25 am
hey pinoy investor, harry king and rhia, some of my favorite business books are Good To Great and Built To Last, so you can imagine why Carl Icahn is not on my list of good investors hehe. But to each his own!
It’s very interesting, though, to look at these boardroom squabbles. I agree with Rhia though — whatever happens, i hope the consumer is the winner. the crime rate is going crazy. always does when the economy is taking a turn for the worse. i don’t think Filipinos can take more beatings.
May 19th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Tama ka ACN. That’s why I believe Mr. Garcia is a good investor. He knows how to make money in his investments. But it doesn’t mean he can lower the power rate or manage Meralco better. Mr. Garcia’s style is like the corporate raider Carl Icahn who can make money even as he ran the company to bankruptcy. That’s what Icahn did to TWA after he took over.
May 17th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
isn’t garcia the one who opposed the Henry Sy to buy epicb @ 40s per share? because of him, it was bought around 90s per share..
pa correct kung mali
May 16th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
I have no doubt Mr. Garcia is a good investor but I doubt his track record as a corporate manager. Just ask GSIS employees and pensioners. He wants to subdivide Meralco’s franchise area to lower power rates. That might even increase operating cost because it’s reverse economies of scale. It’s a contradiction to his other argument that Meralco should have the lowest rate because it has the biggest franchise area and thus enjoy economies of scale.
But Mr. Garcia’s proposal can very well serve the interest of his principals who all want to get a piece of Meralco’s business.
May 16th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Corporate raider, hostile takeover or not, it is about time Meralco gets rattled. They have been in this business for so long we are entitled to know what shenanigans they have been doing to profit of our sorry a**es.
Whatever happens the end result should be a lower rate for the legal users.
May 15th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Right now, the intention of GSIS to be a corporate raider is not yet visible. The share of GSIS, admittedly, is less than that of the Lopezes and if Meralco has employees stock ownership plans, it will be more difficult for the GSIS to take over the management of Meralco.
Usually in a hostile takeover, the “target” company is not saddled with charges of possible wrongdoings but that is not the case with Meralco which is being accused of several irregularities and Winston Garcia may utilize this to initiate a “bear hug”.
The Lopezes are experts in corporate business. They can fight off a hostile takeover anytime provided their noses are clean.
Also, not all takeovers are bad. A very recent example is Bank of America’s acquisition of Countrywide Financial, in the process Bank of America also acquired debts totaling 100 billion dollars but it expects to make profit when the U.S. housing market crisis is over.
May 15th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
During the Meralco hearings, Senator Alan Cayetano told Winston Garcia to get out if the GSIS does not like the way Meralco is being run clearly showed on whose side the senator is with.
Senator Cayetano is a politician. If he were to follow his own line of reasoning then he should get out of politics because, evidently,he doesn’t like how our government is being run. Is it not his ambition to become the President someday and change the way the government is run? So, what is wrong if the GSIS tries to change the way the Meralco is run? As long as it is for the better good.
Another thing wrong with the Senator is that he thinks the only way a business can make more profits is by increasing its prices. Businessmen today are scared of increasing their prices because they might overprice themselves out of the market. They, instead, try to maximize their efficiency , cut unnecessary expenses, and even go to the extent of trimming excess staff. The Meralco did not have to do all of these because it is a monopoly. The senator probably comes from another school of thought.
May 13th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
it’s unfair that system losses include electric consumption thru illegal connections. that cost should not be pass on to paying consumers but should be absorbed by meralco as a business risk or security issues.
May 13th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
salve: I don’t know who will win the proxy fight. Both camps are secretive on how much proxies they have. For sure both are scrambling to get majority. I had a chat with a former business partner who is advising Garcia. He said they hold more stocks than reported by media. I kidded him we’re now enemies because I’m supporting the other camp. Whoever wins the proxy I hope the consumers win low electricity rate.
May 13th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
khayib, nope didn’t see angelo reyes on tv saying that. but if what he said were true, they’ve got a big mess to clean up.
May 13th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
hope, oo nga ano? other utilities firms in other countries also allow this but capped at a certain percentage. even then, i also think it’s preposterous for consumers to be charged systems losses.
May 13th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
roy29: chill, friend. saying that this was politically motivated does not mean meralco’s conscience is clean.
May 13th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
pinoy investor: so what do you think happens next?
May 13th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Interceptor: There always two sides to every story and if you follow what the papers say, you are probably as confused as the rest of us. Question is, whose story to believe or can we just say they are both hiding something?
May 13th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
ESR, 525 per head seems to be low compared to our poll results…
May 13th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Wow! grabe naman ang mga electric bills ng iba dito. sweldo ko na yun sa isang buwan ha
Sana nga matulungan tayo ng gobyerno sa miski papanong paraan para mapagaan naman ang buhay natin sa mga gastusin, kasama na dito ang electric bill. Kung malilinis nila ang paraan kung papano mag presyo ang meralco at sisiguraduhing walang daya then sana bumaba na elec. bills natin.
May 13th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Emman, Meralco is a publicly listed company. It is heavily audited and its books should be open to the public. Having said that, common sense also dictates that it can do much to lessen the power costs to its consumers. Have you heard how it passes on its own consumption costs to us consumers? That was pretty damaging, I think. There are a lot of issues surrounding electricity rates and hopefully we will understand more about them in the coming days. Abangan…
May 13th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Chris, thanks for your answer. The meter should tell you. I do the same for my water consumption. Turn off everything that consumes power and if the meter is still running, then you have a parasite. Any other tips out there?
May 12th, 2008 at 4:32 am
Approximately P2750 per person. How do I detect if there is someone “riding” on my electricity bill?
May 10th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
Obviously, MERALCO is over-charging their consumers. If they’re not hiding something then why are they scared to open their books?
May 10th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
In Manila, my wife paid about PhP525 per head for their electricity. She told me that they seldom use appliances just to lessen electicity consumption. Aircon (.75hp) from 8pm to 5 am. Washing machine very seldom she resort to hand washing and yet they still pay too much. Why? Why? Meralco.
May 10th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
The most important and interesting part of our bill is the Generation Charge that represents the actual consumption. After Meralco added all their charges including value-added-tax which is computed twice, the bill practically ballooned to more than double the actual consumption cost.
May 10th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
last month was 6,000 pesos for a household of 6 adults.
May 9th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
mine is 350/person (3 adults and a baby)
May 9th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
We used to pay 1700 pesos for our 3 person household every month for sometime now so when we got our bill last month I thought for sure that there was a mistake. Our bill ballooned to 3500 pesos, that’s more than double the previous month and there’s no way it would have jumped that much in just a month specially when we didn’t increase electricity usage. No mistake, Meralco says. I don’t care who’s fault it is….Meralco, NAPOCOR or IPP’s…they better get their acts straight before people resort to drastic measures.
May 9th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Gobierno at Meralco . . . pareho lang iyan…
… puro magnanakaw!
May 9th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
there are 3 of us, and our bill is 3300 (thats 1100 each)
but that is because we have aircon in 2 rooms, and we have work at home priviledges (and thats twice a week - full blast aircon since its summer)
on normal months, its only 1500 (500 each)
May 9th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Mine is P540. 2 adults and 3 kids.
I’m just wondering who’s to blame in the higher power cost. Is it Meralco or the government? I think both of them….
May 9th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
I heard it from reliable sources it’s going to be option 3 for Mr. Garcia. I’m giving my proxy vote to the current management. Garcia is a corporate raider and only seeks to profit from this deal. I know how corporate raiders operate because many years ago I was a consultant to one. He took over a large company from a prominent family and it was a downturn from then on for the company.
May 9th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
mine was 1500 with 11.1% system loss.
May 9th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
mine is 800 pesos per month… i live alone with 2 television sets, 1 laptop computer, 2 electric fans and 1 washing machine… no airconditioning unit…
May 9th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
P840 per person (5 persons, 2 of which are always in the office.)
May 9th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Approximately 1800php per person…up from 1000php just a couple of months back.
(glad I still live with my parents…though I hate being a freeloader–so for this, I offer a part of my salary from now on to the household…no…I take that back!)
May 9th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Ours is pretty expensive. Around P5,000 per person for two people living in a one-bedroom condo. I believe it’s mostly due to the aircon which is running half the day.
May 9th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
I live in a townhouse in QC. For the month of April, the air conditioning was used round the clock (a total of 16 hours–8 hours for me and the husband + 8 hours for my sister). My cost is P1670.67 per person (3 adults). It was lower than what I expected as I had estimated a total bill of around P7,000.
May 9th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
ours is about 1k/person (4 adults)
May 9th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Either you are naive or ignorant of the whole issue or more like sip-sip to the opposition. We can see that the philippines has one of the highest power rates in asia. Also, meralcos rates are higer than in Cebu where i resided many years back. Cebu has no natural energy sources, all are coal fired and mostly bunker/diesel fuel, yet meralco has a higher cost. its because they have dubious ways of padding their profit in all other ares of the meralco bill, more so in systems losses. Who is to say that it is the real figure for system loss? Why do provincial sources of energy such as VECO, CEBECO, cooperatives have smaller system loss? Why does meralco buy their enrgy during highest spot pricing? Why dont they open their books? what about meter deposits? These things are hard to answer because dinaya nila ang consumers for so long.Kaya if zI were you, r4ead more, an=d do not ape the opposition who have blinders in their eyes and are a rercipe for deisater if you listen to them
May 9th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
I also live ina 3 br condo… but our power bill is about P3000+ total or 1,500 per person. It even went down in April, which is odd..
I thought that was cheap! Mali pala hehe
May 9th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
last march - P192/head
april - P249/head
we are 10 adults with 3 toddlers.
May 9th, 2008 at 11:54 am
in our old apartment, our bill used to be around 700-1000 only with very minimal aircon use (about 10 hrs max a month).
but we moved and our new apartment may be better than the last but there is no window in our room. hence, no ventilation. my darlings (esp the almost-3 yr old) begs me to turn on the aircon when he goes to sleep at night. So at about 3 hrs usage/night of the aircon, the electric bill has gone up to 1500/month. Not too bad, come to think of it, when there are 7 of us at home…
May 9th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Hey we’re so cheap our bill is 500/person!
Here’s my conspiracy theory. Garcia is a corporate raider. He just wants somebody to buy his shares at high price. By annoying the Lopezes he thinks he can force them to buy him out and earn huge profit. Or option 2, buy out the Lopezes and sell the combined government and Lopez shares to a third party (MVP? Danding?). Or option 3, gain control of Meralco board and sell his shares to a third party at high price because it comes with management control.
In all cases, Garcia makes money. Remember he made a lot of money by intimidating Henry Sy to buy him out at high price in Equitable-PCI. Can he also intimidate the Lopezes?
May 9th, 2008 at 10:28 am
For April, our bill was around Php 940.00 per person but the aircon was running non-stop due to the hot weather, the children were watching TV non-stop, browsing the computer non-stop and playing their electronic games. I support the government’s call for transparency. HOW I WISH THIS GOVERNMENT CAN ALSO BE TRANSPARENT AND NOT USE THE MERALCO SITUATION TO DIVERT THE PUBLIC’S ATTENTION FROM THE RICE SHORTAGE & ITS OTHER SCAMS.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:39 am
why do lazy smutts complain about their electric bill? Filipinos should work harder and smarter. I pay over 15000 pesos a month, and I ain’t complaining shit. It shows that all Filipinos do is complain
May 9th, 2008 at 9:26 am
mine is P537.50 per person…WHAT I DON’T UNDERSTAND IS WHYY MERALCO CHARGES US WITH SYSTEM LOSS (PILFERAGE) WHEN WE HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. ALL OTHER PRIVATE COMPANIES (E.G. SUPERMART AND BANKS) DOES NOT BILL CLIENTS FOR SHOPLIFTING OR BANK ROBBERY LOSS.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:02 am
My husband and I are power-users living in a 3 BR condo. So far its just the two of us and our electricity bill rises to P1000/person. We don’t use aircon at all because we want to save on electricity. But our we both have PCs and a few gadets on at times.
May 9th, 2008 at 8:59 am
You forgot to mention that the “Independent Power Producers” which is a huge part of the generation charge are Meralco’s sister companies.
May 9th, 2008 at 8:52 am
P 1,066 for each of three of us.
By the way, just seen Angelo Reyes on TV reasoned out that the gov’t. royalties on natural gas cannot be removed because this is being used by the cash-stripped NPC to buy its fuel.
That means Natural gas fired IPPs are subsidizing NPC but still, NPC sells energy at a steeper price than the IPPs?
Shouldn’t the gov’t. look more into this anomaly?
May 9th, 2008 at 8:35 am
One question to ask is which IPPs do Meralco source their electricity. Meralco always argue that the ncreasing cost in WESM rates and Napocor rates, etc etc. but it turns out that 2 of the three IPPs are actually Lopez owned IPPs. One IPP, quezon power, is an american owned IPP and I’m not sure how much they are sourcing from that american firm. NPC already lowered their rates from January to April, and will again lower their rates this coming rainy season because hydro plants will be in full operation, which by the way has the lowest cost to operate. SO why is meralco increasing its cost while NPC is deacreasing? And why will they charge the consumers system loss when it is the nature of electricity business to have system loss (Physics of electricity)? If oil companies can open up their books to DOE, why don’t Meralco?
May 8th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
If what Senator Santiago claimed is true then Meralco is cheating both its consumers and stockholders.
Corporate criminals as in the case of Enron must be prosecuted.
May 8th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
mine is approx 850 php (3 adults, 1 baby)
May 8th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
For March, ours was approx P300/person
For April, it jumped to ~P450/person
For May, I expect it to spike up because of our newly installed airconditioner.
We are 3 adults and a baby living in a 2-bedroom condo unit.
May 8th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
I live in a 3-br condo with my aunt. Sometimes, twice a month for several days, my uncle joins us. If its just my aunt and I, we stay in one bedroom (so only 1 aircon is used). If my uncle comes, then he stays in a another room. So technically, my electric bill is 2750 per person. Why is it that expensive? I do not understand…