DOE, ERC seek ways to soften weak peso’s hit on power bills

By ENPH Desk

MANILA, Oct. 29, 2026 — Energy Secretary Sharon Garin will sit down with Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) Chair and CEO Francis Saturnino Juan to discuss ways to cushion and delay the impact of the peso’s slide past P64 to the US dollar on electricity rates, even as the regulator says it has already exhausted its usual relief tools and is still searching for what else it can do.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Oct. 28, on the sidelines of Singapore International Energy Week, Garin said a weaker peso raises the import cost of coal, diesel and liquefied natural gas, costs that typically pass through to the per-kilowatt-hour charge. “So P64 is probably the highest we have now. So it will impact the rate of electricity because it passes through, so it will impact per kilowatt-hour,” she said, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

The local currency crossed the P64-per-dollar mark for the first time on that Tuesday. Data cited by the Inquirer from the Bankers Association of the Philippines put the intraday low at P64; Inquirer Business later described the move as the peso’s 38th record low of the year and its ninth so far in October.

Juan, speaking in Singapore the next day, said lawmakers had pressed the ERC to act after the exchange rate hit that level. “We have addressed a lot of things and we are still studying what else can we do in anticipation of the increase in generation charge brought about by the depreciation of the peso,” he told BusinessMirror. The same outlet reported his assessment that the commission had “used up” the measures typically available to blunt a peso-driven rate spike.

Inquirer Business listed the tools already tapped amid Middle East tensions and rising fuel costs: staggered electricity bill payments, a suspension of disconnections, a pause in collecting certain charges, and a halt to Reserve Market trading. Juan said distribution utilities and electric cooperatives are also feeling strain under the extended no-disconnection policy, because their rates run on a cash-flow basis—they must still pay generation suppliers even when customers pay late.

Both officials stressed that generation pass-through costs feel the forex hit first. Distribution charges, Juan said, do not move immediately because they require formal rate filings. Conventional power-supply agreements usually include fuel-adjustment clauses indexed to external factors, while many renewable contracts lock in a fixed energy charge, shifting currency risk to the generator. Inquirer Business noted that coal alone accounts for about 60% of the country’s generation mix, leaving the market heavily exposed to imported fuel priced in dollars.

Garin called it “not the best time to be secretary,” pointing to an oil-supply crisis and a looming super El Niño that could lift demand, rates and outage risk. She said the Department of Energy may again ask fuel retailers to stagger pump-price increases, and that if the power-bill impact proves severe the department could elevate the matter to Cabinet level for possible subsidies. The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration expects El Niño to peak toward year-end; the Department of Science and Technology has warned of possible drought by March 2027, the Inquirer reported.

The regulatory talks come as Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) customers already face an October rate rise of P0.3191 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), to P15.0615 from P14.7424 in September, largely on higher generation costs—about P64 more for a household using 200 kWh. Separately, the ERC has approved a higher average Meralco distribution rate of P1.48 per kWh, up from about P1.35 but below the P2.34 the utility sought, with the first adjustment in 15 years set to take effect the following month.

What it means for consumers

A weaker peso does not rewrite the distribution charge overnight, but it can lift the generation charge—the largest line on most bills—as imported coal, gas and diesel become costlier in peso terms. Households already covered by staggered-payment and limited no-disconnection rules may get temporary cash-flow relief, yet those measures do not erase the underlying cost. Fixed-price renewable supply agreements are less exposed to forex swings; fuel-pass-through contracts are not. Officials have not published a peso-for-peso estimate of how much the latest slide will add to the average bill.