June 26, 2020 | 12:31 am By Adam J. Ang
THE Energy Regulatory Commission
(ERC) has dismissed several petitions of the state-led Power Sector Assets and
Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) on the collection of some universal
charges from 2007 to 2018, relieving customers of an additional P0.25 per
kilowatt-hour (kWh) charge in their electricity bills.
In an order dated June 23, the
regulator said it junked eight petitions for the true-up adjustments of the
National Power Corp.’s (Napocor) stranded debts (SD) and stranded contract cost
(SCC), both of which form part of universal charges paid for by electricity
customers, as these were deemed “moot and academic” following the enactment of
Republic Act No. 11371, or the Murang Kuryente Act.
“The ERC’s dismissal of the PSALM’s
petitions embodies the intent of the Murang Kuryente Act which is to lower the
cost of electricity being charged to end-users,” ERC Chairperson and Chief
Executive Officer Agnes VST Devanadera said in a statement on Thursday.
“With the dismissal of the subject
PSALM petitions, electricity consumers will no longer be charged with an
additional P0.2536/kWh which is supposed to be added to their electricity bills
had the Murang Kuryente Act not been passed into law,” the official added.
The Murang Kuryente law, which was
signed by President Rodrigo R. Duterte on Aug. 8, 2019, allotted P208 billion
of the net proceeds of the government’s share from the Malampaya Natural Gas
Project to subsidize the two portions of the universal charges, as well as the
anticipated shortfall or deficit incurred from paying these obligations.
Last month, PSALM President Irene B.
Garcia told legislators the government subsidy has yet to take into effect as
it was not included in this year’s General Appropriations Act. Once it is
included in the 2021 national budget, PSALM will no longer apply with the ERC
for universal charge collections.
The Murang Kuryente law indicates
that no new universal charges for SCC and SD shall be collected from all
electricity end-users. The provision is also in the implementing rules and
regulations (IRR) which became effective on May 5.
Ms. Garcia said PSALM is still
receiving the P0.0428/kWh SD charges from customers, as the period for the
collection is still in effect based on the agency’s previously approved
applications with the ERC.
Meanwhile, it halted the collection
of the SCC charges after the IRR became effective.
Stranded contract costs are “the
excess of the contracted cost of electricity under eligible IPP (independent
power producer) contracts over the actual selling price of the contracted
energy output of such contracts,” according to the IRR.
Stranded debts are unpaid financial
obligations of Napocor which have not been liquidated by the proceeds from the
sales and privatization of its assets.
Meanwhile, the regulator said it
came up with the P0.25 cut after considering pending cases on the collection of
universal charges for SCC and SD.
“Our 25 cents calculation was
arrived at after considering what cases are still pending with us for
resolution on the UC SCC and SD,” ERC Spokesperson Floresinda B. Digal said in
a Viber message.
“Had the ERC been hasty in approving
those eight PSALM petitions, consumers may have suffered another rate
increase,” Ms. Devanadera claimed.
After the government would complete
the payment for these costs, the law states that any remainder from the fund
must be used to finance energy resource development and exploitation programs
of the Energy Development Board.
No comments:
Post a Comment