Power cost seen rising next year

Consumers will pay for higher power rates next year, or once the Energy Regulatory Commission approves the “close to P0.23 per kilowatt-hour” feed-in tariff application of National Transmission Corp.

TransCo is set to file its feed-in tariff allowance application to the ERC next week.

Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, who sits on the TransCo board, told reporters during the inauguration of the Panay Energy Development Corp.’s coal power plant in Iloilo City that TransCo was preparing the application for submission.

Cusi said the FIT-All would be around P0.22 per kWh, but a TransCo source said the application would be closer to P0.23 per kWh.

Cusi said while he was hoping not to pass on the feed-in tariff allowance to consumers next year, the application needed to be filed.

Consumers are now paying P0.1240 per kWh under the FIT allowance, a line item in the power bill which is used to compensate the renewable energy generators.

TransCo was supposed to file its application every July, but asked for extension to Oct. 31 and sought another one-month extension.

TransCo included in its computation the feed-in tariff of mostly wind projects. It also  included the  P3 billion to P4 billion worth of under-recovery from consumers as a part of its feed-in tariff allowance application for 2017.

The feed-in tariff is an incentive that guarantees a fixed rate to renewable energy technologies over a 20-year period.

TransCo manages the feed-in tariff allowance fund that is used to pay qualified renewable energy developers.

TransCo delayed their payment to developers because the previously approved rate of P0.1240 per kilowatt-hour was not enough to pay all the developers.

FIT-All is set by the ERC on an annual basis taking into account the forecast annual required revenue of the eligible renewable energy plants, previous year’s under or over recoveries, administration costs, forecasted annual electricity sales, among others.

The government allowed the installation of 500 MW of solar power  projects, 400 MW of wind power projects, 250 MW of small hydros and 250 MW of biomass projects.

ERC approved a feed-in tariff rate of P6.63 per kWh for biomass,  P5.90 per kWh for hydro, P9.68 per kWh for solar 1, P8.69 for solar 2, P8.53 per kWh for wind 1 and P7.40 per kWh for wind2.