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By Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo, Reporter
Power rates are set to go down in the coming
months after the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) approved a
long-awaited adjustment in the National Power Corp.’s (Napocor)
generation and foreign exchange charges.
The regulatory body has ordered the state-owned
power company to reduce rates in Luzon by P0.7116 per kilowatt-hour
and in Mindanao by P0.0246 per kilowatt-hour. But the Visayas will
have a rate increase of P0.0878 per kilowatt-hour.
The order was based on a petition lodged by
Napocor in early June for an adjustment in its Generation Rate
Adjustment Mechanism (GRAM) and Incremental Currency Exchange Rate
Adjustment (ICERA) charges, as well as an application for revised
basic generation rates.
The Generation Rate Adjustment Mechanism allows
Napocor to adjust its generation rate to reflect changes in fuel and
purchased power costs, while the Incremental Currency Exchange Rate
Adjustment allows it to adjust its rates based on foreign exchange
fluctuations.
These charges are passed on to Napocor’s
customers, including the country’s electric utilities and large
companies.
Customers of giant utility firm Manila Electric
Company (Meralco) in the capital region and its outlying provinces
are not expected to benefit dramatically from Luzon’s downward
rate adjustment, as the Lopez-controlled utility sources less than
half of the electricity it gets from Napocor.
The application for a basic rate adjustment, on
the other hand, reflects the impact of the privatization of a number
of Napocor’s power plants under the government’s power sector
privatization program.
Napocor’s petitioned rates, culled from
adjustments in the billing period from July to December 2006, have
long been awaited by the Energy Regulatory Commission, but these
were much lower compared with the rates ordered by the latter.
In its petition filed prior to the regulator’s
order, Napocor adjusted its rates downward. But these would have
only redounded to a decrease of about P0.0362 per kilowatt-hour in
Luzon and P0.0039 per kilowatt-hour in Mindanao.
The Visayas grid, on the other hand, will
sustain a rate increase of about P0.1591 per kilowatt-hour.
The regulator directed Napocor to file a
petition for a full-rate adjustment to cover July 2006 to March
2008, as Napocor’s latest adjustment filings did not cover this
entire period.
Because of this, the Energy Regulatory
Commission imputed carrying charges on the amounts that should have
been refunded in the period July 2006 to April 2008 to benefit the
consumers who could have enjoyed such reductions earlier had Napocor
filed its adjustment applications within the time prescribed in the
regulator’s guidelines.
“Napocor has been directed to expedite the
filing of the application for the remaining period of January 2007
to March 2008 to further help moderate the plight of end-consumers
who are already burdened with high prices of basic commodities,”
the regulator’s chairman, Rodolfo Albano, said.
He added, “An explanation on why the
applications were made partially, instead of [covering] the full
period, must be adequately established.”
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