Meralco Bill Calculator
Type the Total Amount Due from your Meralco bill and see exactly where it went: generation, transmission, distribution and taxes, computed with this month's official rates, matching the line items on a real Meralco bill.
Independent tool. Not affiliated with Meralco.
How do you want to start?
The big boxed amount on page 1. If your bill shows a Remaining Balance from previous bill, use Charges for this billing period instead.
Does your bill show a previous balance, Other Charges or Applied Credits?
You don't need to add anything. We already assume there are none. All three are printed on page 1, in the Bill Computation Summary box. If a line isn't there, or it reads 0.00, leave it blank.
The first line of the Bill Computation Summary. This is last month's unpaid amount, not electricity you used this month, so we take it off before working out your consumption.
Listed under Charges for this billing period, for example a bill deposit. Enter it as printed.
Also under Charges for this billing period, from a prepayment or overpayment. As printed, so negative, like -2.97.
Leave blank to assume 30 days.
Want it to match your bill exactly?
Your city sets its own local franchise tax rate, so ours is an assumption. Your bill prints the real one on the LFT Charge line, in the Government Taxes section. Enter it here and the total will match to the centavo.
Leave blank to use 0.50%.
Enter your Total Amount Due to see where the money went.
Using official Meralco residential rates for July 2026 billing. Older bills may differ, since Meralco updates rates monthly. Rates updated 2026-07-18.
What a kWh actually is
A kilowatt-hour (kWh) is the unit Meralco charges you for. One kWh is a 1,000-watt appliance running for one hour. So a 1,000-watt electric kettle running for an hour uses 1 kWh, while a 10-watt phone charger would need 100 hours to use the same amount.
Your meter counts total kWh since it was installed. Meralco reads it once a month and bills you the difference. That difference is the Actual Consumption printed on page 1 of your bill.
How your bill is computed
Bakit ang mahal ng kuryente? Because your bill is not one rate multiplied by your kWh. It is eight or nine separate charges added together, and only some of them go to Meralco.
- Generation. The cost of the electricity itself, paid to power plants. This is the biggest part of a residential bill: across the real bills we validate against, it ran between 56% and 62% of the total.
- Transmission. Moving that electricity across the national grid.
- System Loss. Electricity lost in the wires between the plant and you.
- Distribution. Meralco's own charge for the poles, wires, and meter.
- Subsidies. Lifeline and senior citizen subsidies.
- Government Taxes. VAT, local franchise tax, real property tax, and for heavy users, the energy tax.
- Universal Charges, FiT-All and GEA-All. Government-mandated charges collected through your bill.
Each charge is computed separately, then VAT is added per charge at rates that change every month. It is never a flat 12% across the whole bill. The exact formulas, with sources, are on our methodology page.
Why your rate changes every month
Generation, transmission and system loss are pass-through charges. Meralco collects what it was billed by power producers and the grid operator, and the amount moves monthly with fuel prices, demand, and the exchange rate. That is why "your rate this month" on your bill is different from last month even when your usage is identical.
We update our rates within days of Meralco publishing them, and the billing month we are using is shown directly under the calculator.
The 400 kWh cliff most people don't know about
Meralco's residential distribution charge is tiered by bracket, and the bracket you land in re-rates all of your kWh, not just the ones above the line. On the July 2026 schedule the rate is ₱0.9803 per kWh up to 200, ₱1.2908 up to 300, ₱1.5837 up to 400, and ₱2.0941 above 400.
That makes the boundaries expensive. At exactly 400 kWh the distribution charge is ₱633.48. At 401 kWh it is ₱839.73, about ₱206 more for one extra kWh, because every kWh is re-rated at the higher bracket. If you normally finish the month just above a boundary, that is the one place where a small change in usage makes an outsized difference.
Where to look first
The fastest way to find what is actually driving your bill is to list your appliances and compare them against your meter reading. Our appliance electricity calculator does this, including the compressor cycling that makes aircon and refrigerator estimates realistic instead of overstated.
A few things worth checking on your own bill:
- Read your own meter midway through the month. If your usage is far above your usual pace, you will know before the bill arrives.
- Compare against the same month last year, not last month. Philippine electricity use is seasonal, and April and May run hot.
- Check the billing period length. A 33-day period will cost more than a 28-day one at identical daily usage.
About these estimates
This calculator uses Meralco's published residential rates and reproduces the same component-by-component arithmetic printed on real bills. It cannot see account-specific items such as bill deposits, applied credits, or arrears, and in bill mode it rounds to the nearest kWh. Your actual bill may differ.
Frequently asked questions
How does this calculator compute my Meralco bill?
By reproducing the line items on a real Meralco bill. Each charge is computed separately: generation, transmission, system loss, distribution (which changes by consumption bracket), subsidies, government taxes, universal charges, and FiT-All. VAT is then applied per component at that month's effective rates, never a flat 12%. Every formula is validated against real bills to the centavo.
Which rates does it use?
Meralco's official residential Summary Schedule of Rates for the current billing month. The exact month and our last-updated date are shown right below the calculator. Rates change monthly and we update within days of publication.
I entered my bill amount, so why is the kWh an estimate?
Your printed Total Amount Due can include account-specific items like bill deposits or applied credits that no calculator can see. If your bill shows Other Charges or Applied Credits, enter them (exactly as printed) and the estimate tightens. We also round to the nearest kWh.
Is this affiliated with Meralco?
No. MyPinoyTools is an independent tool and is not affiliated with Meralco. These are estimates only, and your actual bill may differ.
Related tools
Estimate only. Actual Meralco bills may differ. MyPinoyTools is not affiliated with Meralco.
See our methodology for the formulas, rate sources, and the real bills we validate against.