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State-owned National Power Corp. (Napocor) seeks clarification from
the Energy Regulatory Commission of its order to adjust rates in
Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
The adjustments were borne from Napocor’s
Deferred Accounting Adjustments through its 9th Generation Rate
Adjustment Mechanism (GRAM) and 8th Incremental Currency Exchange
Rate Adjustment (Icera) Mechanism.
The GRAM and Icera applications were for
adjustments in Napocor’s generation and forex rate charges from
the billing period July to December 2006, which were passed on to
consumers.
In light of this, the regulatory body
provisionally ordered Napocor to reduce its customers’ rates in
Luzon by P0.7116 per kilowatt-hour and in Mindanao by P0.0246 per
kilowatt-hour in June. Visayas, on the other hand, will have an
increase in rates by P0.0878 per kilowatt-hour.
But the rates for Luzon and Mindanao were much
higher than what Napocor originally sought after the ERC reduced the
span of time the company can implement the reduction. On the other
hand, the ERC “maintained its proposed recovery spread in the
Visayas.”
In its applications, the state-owned generation
company applied for 48 months for the VATable amounts on the Luzon
rebate spreads and 12 months for the non-VATable amounts for the 9th
GRAM. For the 8th Icera in Luzon, Napocor applied for a 60-month
spread both for VAT-able and non-VATable amounts, but the ERC-approved
spread for both is only six months. As a result, instead of an
applied reduction of P0.4047 per kilowatt-hour, the approved
reduction is now P0.7116 per kilowatt-hour.
For Mindanao grid, the statement said, “…
instead of the applied spread period of 24 months and 10 months for
the VATable and non-VATable amounts for Icera, the ERC-approved
spread was six months only, for both amounts. Hence, instead of an
applied reduction of P0.0039 per kilowatt-hour, the approved
reduction is now P0.0246 per kilowatt-hour,” the statement said.
As for the Visayas, the ERC approved its
proposed spreads of 18 months for both VATable and non-VATable
amounts for the 9th GRAM, and 10 months for VATable and 30 months
for non-VATable amounts for the 8th Icera, thus maintaining the
applied upward rate adjustment of P0.1591 per kilowatt-hour.
-- Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo
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