Danessa Rivera (The Philippine Star )
- July 12, 2020 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The Energy
Regulatory Commission (ERC) has directed the Philippine Electricity Market
Corp. (PEMC) – the previous operator of the country’s electricity spot market –
to implement another refund, this time amounting to over P1 billion for its
overcollections in 2016 and 2017.
ERC ordered PEMC to refund the
overcollection in the market transaction fee (MTF) in 2016 and 2017 for a
period of 12 months starting in the next billing month upon receipt of the
decision.
PEMC proposed MTF in the amount of
P1.07 billion and P1.01 billion in 2016 and 2017, respectively.
However, the ERC only allowed PEMC
to implement P486.25 million in 2016 and P486.44 million in 2017.
The over collection – amounting to
over P1.1 billion – should be refunded to wholesale electricity spot market
(WESM) participants and reflected as a separate line item in the WESM monthly
billing statement.
It should also implement the
adjusted MTF which should be net of the amount to be refunded.
“The commission determined the over
collection by getting the variance between the MTF collected in 2016 and 2017,
and the ERC-approved budget of PEMC for the same period. The resulting variance
is the amount to be refunded which shall be apportioned among all the Luzon and
Visayas participants,” ERC chairperson and chief executive officer Agnes Devanadera
said.
In evaluating PEMC’s
application, ERC considered the nature of PEMC as a government-owned and
controlled corporation (GOCC), the relevance and reasonableness of the actual
utilization of each cost component as reflected in the 2016 and 2017 variance
reports submitted by PEMC, the use of actual proof of expenditures
submitted by PEMC to verify its utilization and comparison of the expenditures
of each cost item with industry standards as well as existing rules and
regulations provided for GOCCs.
PEMC was ordered to submit its plan
of action for the implementation of the refund scheme and the corresponding
adjustment to the MTF within 10 days upon receipt of the decision.
ERC also provided PEMC the general
guidelines for its future MTF applications.
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