Published March 19, 2017, 10:00 PM by Myrna M. Velasco
Transmission firm National Grid
Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) had been provisionally granted lean
capital expenditures of P5.5 billion for this year, giving focus only on highly
critical projects.
The provisional 2017 CAPEX was part
of the P113.4-billion capex that the company has petitioned for with the Energy
Regulatory Commission (ERC), covering the stretch of four years, or until year
2020.
“NGCP’s application covered capex
for calendar years 2017 to 2020 with a proposed total cost of some P113.4
billion, but the ERC only provisionally approved the capex for this year
amounting to P5.5 billion,” the industry regulator has emphasized in its
statement to the media.
ERC Chairman Jose Vicente B. Salazar
said “the Commission needs to study further the propriety of the capex projects
and their corresponding costs for the years 2018 up to 2020.”
He stressed “there is no urgency to
grant approval of those projects which can be done upon completion of the
public hearings,” while also emphasizing that there is a “need to establish and
ensure that the projects are indeed necessary so as not to unduly burden the
consumers with exorbitant power rates.”
The ERC qualified that the approval
covered 58 projects, out of the 65 projects in NGCP’s list on its five-year
rolling capex program.
The power industry regulator
indicated that the projects already given go-signal for implementation were
those found “to be urgent and crucial to ensure continuous, efficient and
reliable supply of electricity.”
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