THE Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is set to complete the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines’ (NGCP) transmission rate reset by March, the regulatory body’s chief said on Monday.
“We started our deliberations as a commission last week, and we will deliberate it because we received so many comments from stakeholders,” ERC Chairperson Monalisa C. Dimalanta told reporters in Filipino after a House of Representatives hearing.
“We will finish it this month, [and] we will release the decision by March of this year,” she added.
The ERC conducts a rate reset process for power companies to help ensure that rates are fair for both consumers and power utilities by looking into the proposed project costs and projected expenditures over a five-year regulatory period.
Ms. Dimalanta said the National Transmission Corp. (TransCo) commented that NGCP has not paid a part of its grid operation earnings to the state-owned corporation.
“TransCo says there is a portion of the collection by NGCP that should go to them because they have assets being used by NGCP, such as land,” she said.
TransCo is a government-owned and -controlled corporation which owns the country’s transmission assets, while the NGCP is the private corporation that won the concession to operate and maintain the transmission system.
Meanwhile, the NGCP is set to release its rate reset for Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) by June, which would take effect a month later, said Ms. Dimalanta.
“They should file [their updated application] this week,” she said. “The commission already decided that they should file for the fifth regulatory period because we need to finish this by June,” she said in Filipino.
Ms. Dimalanta also said the regulatory body would deliberate Meralco’s P19-billion refund proposal on March 1. “We will feel the impact of the refund just in time for the summer months.” — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio
