NREB To Initiate Rule Revisions

With Transco As FIT Administrator
Manila Bulletin
By MYRNA M. VELASCO
January 10, 2012, 11:24pm


MANILA, Philippines — With proposals positioning the National Transmission Corporation (TransCo) as the administrator of the feed-in-tariff (FIT) charges to be billed to ratepayers, the National Renewable Energy Board (NREB) will need to move for changes in the FIT Rules.


In a set-up where TransCo is the FIT administrator, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) still undertakes billing and collection of the FIT Allowance (FIT-All) charges from end-users and will just correspondingly remit it to TransCo.


NREB chairman Pete Maniego Jr. nevertheless qualified that before they can lodge proposals at the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for revisions in the FIT Rules, they have to secure first the opinion of the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC) that shall declare whether or not the FIT charges can be categorized as “public funds.”


We are still waiting for OGCC opinion that FIT-All is public funds and must be administered by a government agency,” he said.


It will only then, he noted, that the NREB will be coordinating with the ERC for changes in the FIT Rules.


As administrator of the FIT, TransCo or any designated entity will do the settlements with the RE generators. It may also make the necessary regulatory filings for true-up adjustments in the FIT-All charges.


Maniego further explained that “if (FIT) is public funds, NGCP as system operator will handle billing and documentation. But funds must be administered by government instrumentality.”


As far as the much-awaited approval of the FIT charges are concerned, cross examination on NREB was expected to wind up Tuesday (January 10).


“After that, we will submit our formal offer of evidence within 15 days. I expect next hearings for presentation of intervenors’ witnesses in late January or early February,” the NREB chair said.


The other legal hurdle that the FIT system will have to overcome is the case filed by the Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF) at the Court of Appeals stopping the FIT deliberations within the scope of a rule-making process. Instead, the FEF is seeking that the FIT shall be rrndered as a general rate-making case.


Technicalities have also been raised on the publication requirements; as well as the alleged premature filing of the FIT application as it happened prior to the finalization of the rules on Renewable Portfolio Standards.


“We will submit our comments to FEF petition in the CA within the month. As to when FIT will be approved, it is up to the ERC and CA,” Maniego stressed. (MMV)