Group says power rate could have been lower
The feed-in-tariff allowance (FIT-ALL) in electricity bills is proving to be an additional burden for Filipino consumers already overburdened by high prices, weakening peso and the impact of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act, consumer advocacy group CitizenWatch Philippines said.
Power utility firm Manila Electric Co. had announced another round of rate decrease since last month.
For June, there was a more than 10-centavo-per-kilowatt-hour decline in electricity rates, which translated to a rate reduction of at least P25 for residential customers consuming 200 kWh.
Lawyer Hannah Viola, CitizenWatch Philippines member, said the reduction would have been higher if not for a nearly 70-centavo increase in FIT-ALL rate.
Bigger reduction
She said the decrease should have been nearly 20 centavos per kWh but “consumers were left with a reduction of only” 13 centavos per kWh.
FIT-ALL refers to the uniform charge billed on all electricity consumers to help subsidize the production of clean and renewable energy, such as solar and wind.
It is filed by National Transmission Corp. (Transco), as the FIT-ALL fund administrator, and set by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) on an annual basis.
In its Feb. 27 decision, the ERC approved the 2017 FIT-ALL rate of 25 centavos, which was equivalent to less than a centavo increase in the current 18-centavo-per-kWh FIT-ALL rate.
Transco had sought a lower FIT-ALL rate of 22 centavos per kWh.
Deficit
The ERC attributed the rate adjustment to the failure of the FIT-ALL fund to cover all its obligations.
It said out of the total renewable energy claim of P40 billion, only 82 percent had been paid and that 18 percent, or P7.4 billion, remained unpaid.
CitizenWatch, however, said the recent increase marked the second time that the ERC approved rates higher than what Transco proposed, creating an additional burden for consumers.
“Insufficiency of FIT payments should not be shouldered by the consumers anymore, who are already suffering as it is,” Viola said.
“We call on the government to explore other options in addressing the P7.4-billion deficit, to have an immediate review of FIT-ALL processes and to ultimately find solutions,” Viola added.
