By Lenie Lectura - October 14, 2019
THE National Power Corp. (Napocor)
is seeking regulators’ approval for the issuance of a provisional authority
(PA) to collect from consumers P18.46 billion in basic universal charge for
missionary electrification for 2020, an amount higher than its pending UCME
application for 2019.
In a 12-page application filed
before the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), the state firm proposed a basic
UCME of P18,460,843,967.62 for 2020 or an equivalent rate of P0.1920 per
kilowatt hour. If approved, this will result in an increase of P0.0740 per kWh
from the previous rate.
UCME is a form of subsidy to assist
Napocor in providing electricity in areas not connected to the transmission
grid. Consumers, however, are the ones paying for this as provided for under
Republic Act 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2011 (Epira). It
needs to seek regulatory approval before this is collected from the consumers.
In its petition, Napocor said the
UCME would sufficiently cover the estimated requirements for areas served by
NPC SPUG (small power utilities group), as well as operating costs in
mini-grids, including the fixed cost of transmission, and the cash incentive
payment to renewable-energy (RE) developers.
“The proposed basic UCME rate of
P0.1920 per kWh inclusive of RE cash incentives for 2020 is 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 providers/qualified
third parties and RE developers,” it said in its application.
The UCME will be remitted to the
Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), another state
firm tasked to privatize the assets of Napocor.
Napocor has a pending application
for provisional approval to collect in 2019 up to P17.805 billion from
electricity users, or an increase to P0.1948/kWh in their power consumption.
The ERC has yet to act on Napocor’s 2019 UCME application.
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