By
Lenie Lectura - June 10, 2018
THE National
Transmission Corp. (Transco) said it would seek a lower feed-in-tariff
allowance (FiT-All) for 2019 compared to its 2018 application pending before
the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
“Our deadline is to
file on or before end of July. Our projection is lower than 2018 because by
then, we expect the deficit to be lower,” Transco President Melvin Matibag
said.
FiT-All is billed
to all on-grid electricity consumers, which appears as a separate line
item in power distributors’ bills. The amount is meant to cover payments
to renewable energy (RE) developers who are assured of a fixed rate per
kilowatt hour (kWh) for electricity generated by their projects over a period
of 20 years.
The ERC had just
approved a FiT-All rate of 25.63 cents per kWh for 2017. The rate, which will
only be implemented starting with June 2018 bills, is higher than the 22.91
cents per kWh rate applied by Transco, administrator of the FiT-All fund.
For FiT-All 2018,
TransCo sought a FiT-All rate of P29.32 per kWh. This is still pending with the
ERC.
The ERC said the
recently approved FiT-All rate for 2017 is sufficient to cover the obligations.
Matibag agreed, saying this will help address the inability of the FiT-All fund
to pay in full the claims of FiT-eligible generators.
“By end of this year,
the claims will go down to P4.6 billion from P6.1 billion at end-2017. That is
why we are also going to ask for a lower FiT-All for 2019 than what we asked
for 2018,” Matibag said.
The ERC decision for
2017 FiT-All rate ruled the total RE claim as of February 5 this year, stood at
P40.12 billion. Of the amount, only 82 percent has been paid, while 18 percent
of P7.378 billion remains unpaid. Accrued interest has ballooned to P527
million. This is 195 percent higher than the January 2016 interest level when
the commission approved the 18.30 cents kWh FiT-All 2016 rate.
Consumer advocate group
Laban Konsyumer Inc. (LKI) earlier asked the ERC to halt the collection of the
2017 rate, saying the resolution should be set aside “for being null and void
on the ground of lack of jurisdiction,” and “to suspend and/or stop immediately
the collection of the FiT-All.”
“Aside from being void
ab initio and without legal effect, the assailed decision must be reconsidered
because it granted a higher FiT-All rate of P0.2563 per kWh despite Transco’s
prayer for the approval of a FiT-All rate of P0.2291 per kWh, which is an act
of grave abuse of discretion tantamount to lack or excess of jurisdiction on
the part of this Honorable Commission,” LKI President Victorio Mario Dimagiba
said.
When sought for
comment, Matibag said LKI should understand TransCo does not earn from
administering the FiT-All. “They should not be angry with us. In fact, they
should help us. We do not earn anything from this. I have this idea that RE
developers must pay us, similar to banks that charge processing fee, because
our people work hard on it. But we won’t push this if RE developers will just
pass this on to consumers.”
Matibag said the
backlog in payments owed to RE developers was caused by a combination of a lot
of factors though not attributable to Transco. “We are very much
concerned and we are doing our best to resolve the issue. We are also looking
for other options to address the backlog,” he said. “With the ERC
approval, we can somehow address the backlog on the payment of FiT-All. We want
to help both consumers and RE developers not to be burdened by reason of the
delay in paying of the FiT.”
Matibag was referring
to earlier proposals to ask financial assistance from the World Bank (or the
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to be able to pay RE developers).
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