Manila, March 11 -- Customers of the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) will see higher electricity bills this month as the company announced Tuesday an increase of PHP0.2639 per kilowatt hour (kWh).

This brings the total electricity rate to PHP12.2901 per kWh from PHP12.0262 per kWh in February.

This means that households consuming 200 kWh will pay around PHP53 more on their bills.

Meralco attributed the higher electricity rate in March to the conclusion of the reset fee adjustment last month, higher transmission charge, and the increase in feed-in tariff allowance (FIT-All).

In February, Meralco applied a one-time reduction of PHP0.2264 per kWh as ordered by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC). Since this refund ended, rates incre...