spot_img
25.5 C
Philippines
Sunday, January 19, 2025
25.5 C
Philippines
Sunday, January 19, 2025

NGCP maintains rules compliance

Estimated reading time: 1 minute and 49 seconds
16px

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines said it complied with existing regulations amid a regulatory reset delay.

Without an approved regulatory reset process, the NGCP said it adhered to the regulations in place at the time by requesting an interim revenue scheme from the Energy Regulatory Commission to ensure the continuity of its operations.

- Advertisement -

“During the period when the NGCP continued its operations despite the absence of a regulatory reset process, we adhered to the most recent approved rules as we had no other option since the implementation of new rules had not commenced,” Cynthia Alabanza, NGCP Assistant Vice President and head of the Public Relations Department, told the House Committee on Legislative Franchises.

With the regulatory reset process delayed by almost 10 years, Alabanza stressed that the NGCP had no other choice but to follow the previous rules to keep its business running.

For its part, the ERC agreed with the NGCP’s position, admitting there was an absence of rules following its failure to approve the 4th regulatory reset application in time.

Based on the original timeline, NGCP’s 4th and 5th regulatory reset applications should have covered the years 2016 to 2020 and 2021 to 2025, respectively.

The ERC, however, modified the regulatory reset periods to 2016 to 2022 and 2023 to 2027.

A legislator, meanwhile, questioned the intent of the hearing of the House Committee on Legislative Franchises on the NGCP, saying there was no need for the panel to conduct a probe as the transmission grid operator has been compliant with the responsibilities under its franchise.

“The BIR in the Ways and Means hearing clearly stated that NGCP has been paying all the tax liabilities of the company, and this was confirmed by the BIR chief,” Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said ERC chairperson Mona Dimalanta also confirmed that NGCP is compliant with its tax responsibilities.

Meanwhile, the Department of Energy admitted that delays in transmission projects cannot solely be blamed on NGCP.

“There are cases that have pending ERC approval also. It’s a culmination of everything, like sa Panay, there’s an issue with the owner and the DENR,” DOE Undersecretary Sharon Garin said.

LATEST NEWS

Popular Articles