Power consumers saved an aggregate net P40 billion in electricity costs between 2014 and 2020 because must-dispatch feed-in tariff (FIT) plants displaced expensive conventional generation, according to former Department of Energy Undersecretary Jose Layug Jr.
Layug, a senior partner at Divina Law, cited a study conducted by the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP), which operates the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM). He said the FIT plants displaced expensive conventional power plants by P0.09 per kWh during particular WESM periods over the seven-year period.
FIT is a rate determined by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and is guaranteed to eligible renewable energy plants for 20 years.
The payments are funded by all on-grid electricity consumers through an RE payment agreement with the National Transmission Corporation. The FIT offers fixed payments per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for biomass solar run-of-river (ROR) hydro wind and RE hybrid systems.
The DOE has declared 84 FIT plants operational, totaling 1,707.63 MW (megawatts). The breakdown includes 34 biomass plants (259.02 MW), 25 solar plants (584.93 MW), 39 ROR hydro plants (436.77 MW) and 7 wind farms (426.90 MW).
Layug said the study did not include the 2022 to 2024 period, when drastic increases in oil gas and coal prices resulted in even higher avoided costs to households, and caused the FIT-All charge to be reduced to nil.
The Philippines is now aggressively integrating renewable energy, with 10 gigawatts of new RE plants set for completion under a similar, lower-rate system called the Green Energy Auction Program. Layug said the competitive cost of RE technologies should result in more savings for Filipino consumers.
 renewable energy plants.){kind=link}