MANILA, Philippines — The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) on Tuesday maintained that all its revenues and expenses are controlled, regulated, and approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
NGCP’s statement was issued after the agency was pushed to immediately refund the P200 billion it spent on advertising, entertainment, and other expenses.
“All of NGCP’s revenues and expenses are controlled, regulated, and approved by ERC. Our advertising costs are for right-of-way safety and anti-power line disturbance act campaigns nationwide,” said NGCP.
“This also includes statutory requirements of publication, including ERC’s requirement to publish each and every application five times in newspapers of general circulation,” it added.
NGCP likewise claimed that instead of penalizing them, the regulator should, in fact, reward their “exemplary performance.”
“The 23.2 percent reduction of transmission rates from 0.69 to the current 0.530 under NGCP, and the concessionaire’s continually improving services should be lauded, not vilified,” it stressed.
NGCP explained that transmission charges only represent 3.5 percent of an average electric bill, adding that generation costs actually eat up most of a consumer’s bill.
In terms of red alerts declared from 2016 to 2022, NGCP said that at least 96 percent of these were directly attributed to unplanned and emergency shutdowns.
“If power stability and lower cost for the consumer is the primary goal, then we must look at the cause of high prices and unstable supply. As [a] transmission service operator, we only transmit power that is available, if it is available,” said NGCP.