By
Lenie Lectura - July 2, 2018
THE Department of
Energy (DOE) is eyeing to issue in the second half of the year a policy that
will require distribution utilities (DUs) to unbundle electricity charge
components to ensure greater transparency.
DOE Undersecretary
Felix William B. Fuentebella said last week that the draft circular would have
to undergo more public consultations before it is signed by Secretary
Alfonso G. Cusi.
Alfonso G. Cusi.
“There are three more
public hearings scheduled…in Palawan, Iliolio and Cagayan de Oro.
The target issuance of the circular is in the second quarter,” Fuentebella
said. The agency issued last month a draft circular adopting the framework for
a uniform monthly electricity bill format.
“The DOE takes
cognizance of the need to empower electricity end-users with greater
understanding and transparency on the charges in monthly electricity bills by
unbundling the electricity charge components, including those components that
are not part of the unbundled rates but were collected from the consumers for
security and reliability of services,” the draft circular stated.
The agency wants the
DUs to reflect all corresponding charges they collect from all electricity
end-users, including but not limited to generation, transmission, distribution,
supply and metering charges, bill and meter deposits, including interest and
any other charges that the Energy Regulatory Commission may approve.
It said the electricity
bill should be prepared in a simple and easy-to-understand format. It
said that subject to ERC regulation, all distribution utilities should use a
uniform bill format prescribed by the ERC.
“Except for competitive
services components such as generation and supply, no charges shall be
reflected in the bill and collected from the electricity end-users without the
approval of the ERC,” the circular stated.
Section 25 of the
Electric Power Industry Reform Act requires every DU to identify and
segregate in its bills to end-users the components of the retail rate.
The circular, once
approved, will apply to all distribution utilities, including privately owned
utilities; electric cooperatives; local government-owned utilities; entities
authorized to operate within economic zones; and other entities authorized by
law to distribute electricity to end-users.
The bill should contain
the generation charge, transmission charge, system loss, distribution charge,
supply charge, metering charge, other charges, subsidies or discounts, senior
citizen discount, government taxes, local taxes, universal charge,
missionary electrification charge, environmental charge, stranded debts
and contract costs of National Power Corp., feed-in-tariff allowance and other
charges, among others.
The bill should also
contain the bill deposit including interest and the meter deposit including
interest, billing summary, among others.
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