Reduced grid service costs ease May electricity rates
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/LYN RILLON
SAN ANTONIO, ZAMBALES, Philippines — Consumers in this province may see lower transmission charges in their May electricity bills after the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) announced a reduction in transmission rates driven by lower wheeling and ancillary service (AS) costs.
NGCP said the overall average transmission rate for the April billing period declined by 8.80 percent to P1.5983 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), from P1.7526/kWh in March.
The decrease was attributed to lower transmission wheeling rates and AS rates.
Transmission wheeling rates, or the charges for delivering electricity through NGCP’s transmission network, fell by 14.16 percent to P0.6028/kWh from P0.7022/kWh in the previous billing period.
Meanwhile, average AS rates, which cover the cost of reserve power used to stabilize the grid during supply-demand imbalances, dropped by 5.02 percent to P0.8088/kWh from P0.8516/kWh in March.
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Ancillary services are sourced from the reserve market and from power providers with bilateral contracts with NGCP.
“For the May 2026 electric bill of end consumers, NGCP charges only 60 centavos per kWh for the delivery of its services,” the grid operator said.
NGCP added that ancillary services continue to account for the bulk of transmission charges.
“NGCP does not earn from AS rates, as these are remitted directly to generating companies, and it does not benefit from any movement in their prices,” it said.
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The lower transmission charges come a month after electricity consumers in parts of Zambales were hit by higher power rates due to increased generation and transmission costs linked to the global energy crisis.
Earlier, the Zambales II Electric Cooperative (Zameco II) said the effective electricity rate for April rose to P9.3839/kWh from P7.3693/kWh in March, an increase of P2.0146/kWh.
Zameco II attributed the increase mainly to higher generation charges fueled by global supply disruptions and rising imported fuel costs.
The cooperative also cited higher NGCP transmission charges, particularly ancillary service costs used to maintain grid stability during supply-demand imbalances.
Despite fluctuations in overall electricity prices, Zameco II said its distribution, supply, and metering charges have remained unchanged since February 2011 under a ruling by the Energy Regulatory Commission.
The cooperative added that generation and transmission charges are pass-through costs collected from consumers but not directly earned by distribution utilities. /cb
