Published
By Myrna M. Velasco
The feed-in-tariff
allowance (FIT-All) line item in the electric bills of Filipino consumers will
go down this year, according to highly placed industry sources.
It was hinted that the
calculated reduction is at ₱0.04 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), based on a reported
decision already being routed for the final approval of the Energy Regulatory
Commission; as well as for the promulgation and signature of the Commissioners
and ERC Chairperson Agnes T. Devanadera.
With that level of reduction in the FIT-All, the resulting rate for that
particular line item in the electric bills will be ₱0.1826 per kWh.
One of the factors that
purportedly pulled down the FIT-All charge is the increase in clearing prices
at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) last year – as the FIT-All calculation
takes reference from it.
The FIT-All is the
calculated per-kilowatt-hour charge being passed on in the consumers’ electric
bills; and the collections being funneled through fund administrator National
Transmission Corporation (TransCo) are subsequently paid to qualified renewable
energy (RE) developers for their respective installations.
In last year’s FIT-All
approval of the ERC, it noted that it factored in the discrepancy in the plant
capacities used by applicant-TransCo versus the actual capacity of the
FIT-eligible plants.
In documents filed with
the ERC supporting TransCo’s application for FIT-All to be implemented this
2020, it has been shown that the targeted payout to RE developers would hover
at ₱34.95 billion until next year’s reckoning date.
But given the leaner approved FIT-All charge to be issued by the ERC soon, the
total amount of recoveries will also be down vis-à-vis the original estimates.
Across technologies, it
was shown that the required cost recovery of wind installations would be at
₱3.296 billion; solar will be for ₱2.346 billion; biomass will be at ₱4.890
billion; and hydro at ₱3.350 billion.
For FIT differentials,
estimated amounts to be recouped for wind facilities will be ₱6.987 billion;
solar for ₱5.351 billion; biomass at ₱6.275 billion; and hydro at ₱1.936
billion.
TransCo emphasized that
it will need to pass-on back-billings on the FIT differential component of the
FIT-All charges – those that already piled up from regulatory years 2016 to
2019.
For next year, it is
anticipated that the FIT-All charge may climb back as the FIT-qualified
installations for biomass will increase as anchored on the extended deadline of
project completions set forth by Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi.
That deadline extension was as of December 31, 2019, but since there are
biomass capacities not fully covered in the FIT incentive scheme based on the
250-megawatt installation cap earlier prescribed, the sector is now pushing for
expanded capacity coverage also of the FIT subsidy for the technology.
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