posted March 07, 2016 at 11:55 pm by Alena Mae S.
Flores
The electricity bill of
a typical household with power consumption of 200 kilowatt-hours a month will
increase by P24.80 in April, after the government approved the collection of
feed-in-tariff allowance for renewable energy projects.
The Energy Regulatory
Commission provisionally approved the application of the National Transmission
Corp. to collect a feed-in tariff allowance of P0.1240 per kilowatt-hour from
power consumers this year. TransCo was designated as the FIT-All fund
administrator, on behalf of renewable energy producers.
“The commission already
approved the FIT-All and the order is now being finalized for the signature of
the members of the commission,” ERC chairman Jose Vicente Salazar said.
“We provisionally
approved the amount of P0.1240 per kWh,” he said.
This means a
residential consumer, with a monthly electricity consumption of 200 kWh, will
pay P24.80 more by April or at the start of the FIT-All collection.
The feed-in tariff
allowance refers to the uniform charge billed on power consumers, to reflect
the higher rates enjoyed by completed renewable energy projects, such as solar,
wind and biomass facilities.
The 2016 feed-in tariff
allowance will be used to pay renewable energy projects amounting to P6.925
billion, with the bulk going to wind projects at P2.788 billion, solar at
P2.591 billion, biomass at P1.263 billion and hydro at P282.516 million.
TransCo predicted wind
projects in 2016 would be able to generate 977,205 megawatt-hours, followed by
biomass at 682,407 MWh, solar at 632,686 MWh and hydro at 187,342 MWh.
The government allowed
the installation of 500 MW of solar power projects, 400 MW of wind power
projects, 250 MW of hydro and 250 MW of biomass projects.
ERC approved a feed-in
tariff rate of P6.63 per kWh for biomass, P5.90 per kWh for hydro, P9.68
per kWh for first phase of solar, P8.69 for second phase of solar, P8.53 per
kWh for first phase of wind and P7.40 per KWh for second phase of wind.
TransCo sought the
regulators’ approval in December collect a FIT-All of P0.1025 per kWh from
consumers starting this year, but the ERC approved a higher rate based on
certain assumptions.
“We assessed the list
of the existing FIT COCs [certificate of compliance] and those gencos [power
generation companies] with pending FIT COC applications which are the most
certain to become operational before the March 15 deadline. The list totaled
1,054 MW. Using this capacity, we computed the FIT-All to be P0.1240 per kWh,”
Salazar said.
TransCo, in a filing to
the regulator, said that pending the hearing on the merits of the present
application, a provisional authority should be issued to collect the feed-in
tariff allowance starting January.
It shall be set by the
ERC on an annual basis, taking into account the forecast annual required
revenue of the eligible renewable energy plants, previous year’s under or over
recoveries, administration costs, forecasted annual electricity sales and other
factors.
TransCo also asked ERC
that after due notice and hearing, a permanent approval be granted to implant
the FIT-All rate for 2016 of P0.1025 per kWh, “computed for RE project with at
least nomination from DOE for eligibility under the FIT system.” it said.
The agency said it
sought a lower feed-in tariff allowance from the computed level of P0.1470 per
kWh in view of the ERC’s decision limiting the forecast renewable energy
generation included in the computation to those renewable energy plants with
certificates of endorsement.
“The computed 2016
FIT-All rate covering RE projects with at least 80 percent
electromechanical completion, thus are almost sure to operate within the period
under consideration, if not already operating to date,” it said.
TransCo also included
in the 2016 computation the under-recoveries for 2015 estimated at P0.0268 per
Kwh.
The passage of the
Renewable Energy Law of 2008 which provided for the feed-in tariff regime
ushered in the entry of renewable energy projects.
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