Business World Online
Posted on March 11, 2012 11:36:39 PM
RATE HIKES starting with the universal charge for missionary electrification (UCME) will be sought by state-owned National Power Corp. (Napocor).
"We will file an additional P0.06/kWh covering the 2010 period and then file another petition for our generation rate adjustments for the January to June 2011 period," Napocor President Froilan A. Tampinco told reporters on Friday.
The petition for the UCME adjustment will likely be filed this month, he said.
The agency needs Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) approval for periodic adjustments to the UCME, currently at P0.11/kWh after regulators approved an additional P0.0709/kWh last August. This provided Napocor with P4.299 billion for the operation off-grid area power facilities.
Any petition, however, could be superseded when Napocor files its yearly universal charge petitions as mandated by the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001.
"The new UCME is dependent on the Missionary Electrification Development Plan of the Energy department. We have been told the plan will be out by March 15 so we have requested the ERC to allow us time to file for that," Mr. Tampinco said.
Napocor has said it would need to spend P6.06 billion for transmission lines in off-grid areas over the next 10 years. Funding is to be sourced from the UCME.
The state-owned power firm, through its Small Power Utility Group, manages and operates 157 power utilities in off-grid areas with a combined capacity of 200 megawatts. -- ENJD
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