TRANSMISSION charges will increase beginning in August after the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) allowed National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) to collect P63.45 billion from customers in a decision setting the company’s revenue caps.
The ERC on Tuesday said that it had approved an annual revenue requirement of P374.98 billion for the NGCP, lower than the requested P442.60 billion, for the fifth regulatory period covering 2023 to 2027.
“Accordingly, NGCP is hereby directed to implement the maximum allowable revenue for RY 2023 in the amount of P63,449,702.720 starting August 1, 2026, until otherwise directed,” the regulator said in a Jan. 30 decision.
Asked to explain, ERC representatives said “this will translate to an additional charge of P0.06 per kWh in the transmission charge for consumers and will be implemented starting in the August billing period and will last until the whole amount is collected.”
NGCP officials were not immediately available for comment.
The ERC, in a statement, said it had reduced the NGCP’s capital expenditures by 17 percent and also disallowed the recovery of real property taxes that the firm wanted to pass on to consumers.
The decision, it said, “strikes a balance between ensuring adequate funding for critical power infrastructure and safeguarding consumers from excessive transmission charges.”
“Only costs and investments that passed regulatory scrutiny were included in the approved revenue cap,” it added.
The ERC periodically reviews the NGCP’s costs, investments and performance and then sets revenue limits under what is known as a regulatory reset. The latest decision covers the fifth regulatory period and the fourth, covering 2016 to 2022, was only completed last year.
