posted May 15, 2016 at 11:10 pm by Alena Mae S. Flores
State-owned National Power Corp. is
seeking to recover P10.324 billion from customers for subsidies it spent in
building power facilities in remote areas.
Napocor said in a published petition
filed before the Energy Regulatory Commission the amount would translate into
an increase of P0.1248 per kilowatt-hour starting 2016 under the universal
charge for missionary electrification.
Napocor said the proposed basic
universal charge for missionary electrification was “necessary in order to cover
the required subsidy requirements and at the same time, maintain a reliable and
stable funding source for its operating costs requirements including a
sufficient subsidy for payment to new power players/qualified third parties and
renewable energy developers.”
It said there was a need to meet the
customer’s electricity requirements through the implementation of the proposed
improvement of Napocor’s generation function to provide a sustainable
development in off-grid areas and connect electricity to unserved communities.
Napocor said the lack of funds from
the universal charge for missionary electrification subsidy and from supposedly
transitory funds which could be sourced through loans would affect its funding
and operation.
“Be it recalled that the Department
of Justice issued an opinion which limited and suspended Napocor’s authority to
borrow funds or enter into a loan agreement,” it said.
Napocor calculated the application
based on the 2015 results of operations and fuel costs for 2017, operating
expenses, depreciation costs and calculated revenues.
“In the instant petition,
petitioner has utilized the authorized RORB methodology using the year 2015
base rate being the most recent financial statement available during the
calculation stage,” it said.
The application also included the
renewable energy cash incentive for off-grid developers.
“Based on the results of the
calculations made, the total proposed UCME subsidy requirement for the
missionary electrification will amount to P10.324 billion for CY 2017 inclusive
of the cash incentive for renewable energy,” Napocor said.
Napocor last year filed an
application for the basic universal charge for missionary electrification for
2015 and 2016 before ERC in support of its missionary electrification function.
The application is still pending with ERC.
Napocor’s operating funds do not
come from the national government but mainly from two sources, including the
universal charge from missionary electrification which was collected from all
electricity end-users nationwide and from subsidized approved generation rate
which is collected from electric cooperatives in off-grid islands.
Napocor is mandated under the
Electric Power Reform Act of 2001 to provide electricity to missionary
electrification areas around the country.
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