(The Philippine Star) | Updated June 25, 2016 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines -
More electricity customers are shifting to the net metering program and the
trend is expected to continue as the cost of solar panels keep going down, a
ranking Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) official said.
Meralco started with
one customer under the net metering program in 2013. By end-2015, the power
distributor has over 200.
And as of May 16,
Meralco has 392 customers, with rooftop installations at an average capacity of
four kilowatts (kw), under net metering, said Anna Maria Reodica, program
manager and specialist for Meralco’s Renewables Program Management.
“In the past few
months, we saw a seven percent month-to-month increase in installations. You
can see that the trend is going up and this means the net metering program is
consistently growing,” she said.
Based on the group’s
market research, Reodica attributed the growing trend to the lower cost of the
solar photovoltaic (PV) systems and the price of electricity.
“There are several
factors like the price of electricity and the cost of the solar photovoltaic
system,” she said. “It could be economic but there are also other factors
driving.”
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Under the net metering
program, electricity end-users with renewable energy installations — such as
solar, wind or biomass — not exceeding 100 kw can sell electricity they
generate in excess of what they can consume directly to their distribution
utility (DU).
“There are customers
who are exporting because its beyond their requirements. For example, no one is
at home, solar panels continue to generate power so it is fed into the Meralco
network and they are compensated for that,” Reodica said.
While Meralco has not
set a target number of customers under net metering, Reodica said the franchise
area “is reaching down south of Laguna and Bulacan with scattered [solar PV]
installations.”
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