Sunstar Bacolod
THE Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is soliciting comments from industry stakeholders, including Bacolod City and Negros Occidental, with regard proposed amendments to the guidelines for the setting and approval of electricity generation rates and subsidies for missionary electrification (ME) areas.
The proposal aims “to set and approve electricity generation rates and subsidies for areas not connected to the national grid transmission system and where NPC-SPUG performs or will perform its ME function by providing power generation and its associated power delivery systems.”
It would also “govern the fixing of and availment from the universal charge (UC) for ME; and aims to provide the manner by which renewable energy (RE) developers for ME may avail of their cash incentive from the UC-ME as per the Renewable Energy Act of 2008.”
ME refers to the provision of basic electricity service in unviable areas with the ultimate aim of bringing the operations in these areas to viability levels, ERC said. “UC-ME is expressed in peso per kilowatt-hour (kWh), determined, fixed and approved by the ERC and applied to all electricity end-users.”
As per the January 2011 unbundled rates of the Central Negros Electricity Cooperative (Ceneco) Inc., UC-ME was P.0454/kWh uniformly collected from residential, small and large commercial electricity consumers as well as from primary metering and streetlights with or without meters.
The ERC said the proposal is pursuant to Sections 34, 43(t) and 70 of Republic Act (RA) 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) of 2001 and its implementing rules and regulations (IRR) as well as Section 15, Chapter VII of RA 9513 or the Renewable Energy Act of 2008 and its IRR.
Article IV of the proposed amended guidelines states that “in the petition to set the UC-ME sufficient to cover the ME subsidy estimated requirements for all NPC-SPUG (National Power Corporation-Small Power Utilities Group) areas to be filed by NPC-SPUG on or before March of every year, the forecasted amount necessary for the cash incentive of the RE developers that are or will be operating in Off-Grid areas should be included in the estimated requirements for all NPC-SPUG areas.”
In the first petition to be filed by NPC-SPUG, it shall calculate and include the cash incentive portion of the UC-ME for the RE developers that qualify for such incentive.
NPC-SPUG refers to the functional unit of the National Power Corporation created to pursue the ME function as per Section 70 of the Epira while an NPC-SPUG area involves those not connected to the national grid transmission system where NPC-SPUG directly provides or will provide electric generation services and its associated power delivery systems.
An RE developer shall also be entitled to the cash incentive under RA 9513 “from the time it commences its commercial operation in the missionary area as a new power provider (NPP) under a power supply agreement (PSA) approved by the ERC; provided that such commencement of operations shall be after the effectivity of the Renewable Energy Act.”
If there are two or more RE developers in a missionary area, they shall be entitled to the cash incentive commensurate to the electricity they generated, the proposal added.
“All interested parties may submit their comments both in hard and soft copies…using the prescribed format at the ERC Main Office in Pasig City not later than March 11, 2011. Electronic copies may be sent to legal@erc.gov.ph,” said the ERC notice posted February 15, 2011 via www.erc.gov.ph./cgc
Published in the Sun.Star Bacolod newspaper on February 18, 2011.
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