By Danessa Rivera (The
Philippine Star) | Updated September 2, 2017 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines - The National
Transmission Corp. (TransCo) wants consumers to cover the shortfall of payment
to renewable energy (RE) developers eligible under the feed-in tariff (FIT)
system next year.
The state-run firm has filed an
application with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to increase the feed-in
tariff allowance (FIT-All) to 29.32 centavos per kilowatt-hour (kwh).
The proposed FIT-All is eyed for
implementation in January 2018, which will be collected by distribution
utilities (DUs), retail electricity suppliers (RES) and the National Grid Corp.
of the Philippines (NGCP) from end-users.
A uniform charge billed to all
on-grid electricity consumers, the FIT-All will cover payments for renewable
energy projects eligible to receive FIT incentives.
It is part of the implementation of
the Renewable Energy Law promulgated in 2008, which will serve as an incentive
to RE developers to further pursue developments in the sector.
Under the FIT-All guidelines,
TransCo is designated as the administrator of the FIT-All fund and is required
to make an annual determination of the tariff.
TransCo estimates that the FIT-All
fund it manages will have a deficit of P8.67 billion, assuming its 2017
application is approved.
Meanwhile, it also needs to settle
FIT differential for 2015, 2016 and 2017 amounting to P163.68 million, P528.6
million and P134.38 million, respectively, which are due in 2018. The FIT
differential pertains to energy generation from 2015 to 2017 expected to be
billed to TransCo.
As required, the FIT-All 2018
application was filed a year prior. This as the ERC has yet to decide to
approve the 2017 collection. For this year, TransCo proposed a FIT-All of 22.91
centavos per kwh.
So far, 18.3 centavos per kwh is
being collected from consumers, which was just approved last June. This is an
increase from the 12.4 centavos per kwh previously charged to consumers.
Earlier, TransCo president Melvin
Matibag said the state-run firm is in talks with the World Bank and China-led
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank for a zero-percent interest loan to cover
the backlog to be paid to renewable energy developers under FIT.
He said the agency has not been
remiss in collecting the FIT-All fund but collections are not enough due to
regulatory lag.
The loan, which could amount to as
much as P20 billion, is seen to solve the outstanding balance of P8.2 billion
as of July, Matibag said.
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