Aboitiz agrees to refund NGCP

Manila Standard Today
By Alena Mae S. Flores | Posted on September 13, 2012 | 12:01am 

Therma Marine Inc., a wholly-owned unit of Aboitiz Power Corp., said it will refund National Grid Corp. of the Philippines after the Energy Regulatory Commission  reduced the cost recovery on two power barges.

“The welfare of the Mindanao public is our topmost priority so we are coordinating closely with NGCP to work out the fastest possible way to effect the refund,” Therma Marine chief operating officer Jovy Batiquin said.

The ERC issued a ruling on Aug. 14, trimming the capital recovery fee of Power Barge 117 and PB 118 under a purchase agreement between Therma Marine and National Grid.

The regulator reduced Therma Marine’s capital recovery cost for PB 117 to P0.5564 per kilowatt-hour for 2010 and P0.5302 per kWh for 2011 from the originally approved P0.7768 per kWh.

The agency also cut the recovery cost for PB 118 to P0.5150 per kWh for 2010 and P0.4912 per kWh for 2011 from the approved P0.7768 per kWh.

Therma Marine said the adjustment ordered by ERC would only impact on the capital recovery fee portion of the ancillary power it supplies to National Grid.

“Ninety percent of TMI’s cost of power is for fuel, which is a pass-through charge. The remaining 10 percent is for the salaries of our employees, spare parts, insurance, maintenance costs and capital recovery,” Batiquin said.

He said Therma Marine wanted to start the refund process as early as possible.

“We have decided to not file any motion for reconsideration. We won’t contest ERC’s decision,” Batiquin said.

He said Therma Marine would submit the actual refund to the ERC for approval after the reconciliation of the figures.

The system operator is supposed to apply the refund to the bills of electric cooperatives and distribution utilities, which in turn, are expected to pass the benefit to the end consumer.    source