FILE PHOTO Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) /INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines — The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has begun the process of resetting transmission rates, one of the charges power distributors levy on electricity consumers.
The ERC promulgated Resolution No. 08, Series of 2022, or the Amended Rules for Setting Transmission Wheeling Rates, to restore balance in transmission regulation. It jump-starts the rate reset process of the country’s sole grid operator, National Grid Corp. of the Philippines.
The last time the ERC completed the transmission reset process was for period from 2010 to 2015.
The ERC explained that the transmission wheeling rate is paid by electricity end users for the use of transmission facilities necessary for the delivery of electricity to households, industries and commercial establishments. It is among the line items seen in the monthly bills.
“The long delay in the reset has not been fair in many respects,” Monalisa Dimalanta, chair of the ERC, said in a statement over the weekend.
“Consumers and grid users, on one hand, have become increasingly skeptical of the reasonableness of the rates that continue to be charged. Investments and new generation capacities have been stalled because, among others, of the uncertainty in funding for transmission projects,” Dimalanta said .
“The grid operator has not been able to demonstrate efficiencies, if any, that it may have obtained in its operations for the past six to seven years that would entitle it to the grant of performance-based incentives,” she added.
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