Business World Online
Posted on May 23, 2011 11:08:02 PM
CONSUMERS could see their electricity costs increase as National Power Corp. (Napocor) wants to recover a P17-billion shortfall incurred in servicing off-grid areas.
An additional P0.2759 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) should be tacked on to the current P0.0454/kWh universal charge for missionary electrification (UCME) for a one-year period, the state-owned firm said in a May 12 petition to the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
The adjustment will be used to "augment current financial requirements and in order to settle pending obligations with fuel and other suppliers which will enable NPC-SPUG (Napocor-Small Power Utilities Group) to shore up its financial situation."
Napocor noted its responsibility to deliver power to off-grid areas -- a task handled by the SPUG unit -- and also its being allowed to recover shortfalls incurred in fulfilling this task.
The firm wants a "true-up" adjustment, or "the difference of the revenue requirements of the true cost of generation vis-a-vis ... [the ERC’s] approved revenue for NPC-SPUG."
It argued that shortfalls in the UCME subsidy -- the P17 billion was said to have been accrued from 2003 to 2009 -- "had dire consequences on Napocor’s finances, which were felt only after the Napocor main grid could no longer advance any expense to tide SPUG over until it collected the approved subsidy and its revenues from sales."
Earlier this year, four SPUG areas ran out of fuel after suppliers refused to grant further credit.
ERC Executive Director Francis Saturnino C. Juan said Napocor’s petition would be considered, noting that "Based on our rules the UCME is more forward looking and is recoverable for three years. The true-up adjustment is allowed because that recovery period is shorter and has to be a separate filing from the UCME."
Napocor through the SPUG, manages and operates 157 power utilities in off-grid areas with a combined capacity of 200 megawatts. It needs about P7 to P9 billion to efficiently run SPUG operations in areas not connected to the main grid. -- E. N. J. David
The adjustment will be used to "augment current financial requirements and in order to settle pending obligations with fuel and other suppliers which will enable NPC-SPUG (Napocor-Small Power Utilities Group) to shore up its financial situation."
Napocor noted its responsibility to deliver power to off-grid areas -- a task handled by the SPUG unit -- and also its being allowed to recover shortfalls incurred in fulfilling this task.
The firm wants a "true-up" adjustment, or "the difference of the revenue requirements of the true cost of generation vis-a-vis ... [the ERC’s] approved revenue for NPC-SPUG."
It argued that shortfalls in the UCME subsidy -- the P17 billion was said to have been accrued from 2003 to 2009 -- "had dire consequences on Napocor’s finances, which were felt only after the Napocor main grid could no longer advance any expense to tide SPUG over until it collected the approved subsidy and its revenues from sales."
Earlier this year, four SPUG areas ran out of fuel after suppliers refused to grant further credit.
ERC Executive Director Francis Saturnino C. Juan said Napocor’s petition would be considered, noting that "Based on our rules the UCME is more forward looking and is recoverable for three years. The true-up adjustment is allowed because that recovery period is shorter and has to be a separate filing from the UCME."
Napocor through the SPUG, manages and operates 157 power utilities in off-grid areas with a combined capacity of 200 megawatts. It needs about P7 to P9 billion to efficiently run SPUG operations in areas not connected to the main grid. -- E. N. J. David
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