(File photo)
MANILA – Now that the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has started the process of resetting transmission wheeling rates that may result in reduced rates, a senator said it would be more beneficial if customers would also get refunds.
In a news release on Monday, Senator Risa Hontiveros said the ERC must refund consumers after it overcharged the weighted average cost capital (WACC) during the fourth regulatory reset period.
WACC is the return a company expects on the money it has put into a business.
“Ilang taon nang sinisingil ang mga power consumer ng higit pa sa kung magkano lang dapat ang ating ibinabayad. Hindi lang dapat discount sa mga susunod na bill ang ibigay sa atin, kundi balik-bayad sa mga taon na hindi nangyari ang reset (They have been collecting from the consumers more than the allowed for several years now and they are planning only a discount for the next bills. What we need is refund for the years covered by the reset),” Hontiveros said.
The discount, Hontiveros said, is not appropriate since it came from the excess collections of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).
The transmission wheeling rate, reflected in electric bills, is a direct charge that electricity consumers pay for the use of transmission facilities necessary for the delivery of electricity to households, industries, and commercial establishments.
The Amended Rules for the Setting Transmission Wheeling Rates for 2023 to 2027 seek to restore balance in transmission regulation and determine how much the national transmission utility, or the NGCP, is allowed to charge for transmission rates to users of the high-voltage system, according to the ERC.
“The long delay in the reset has not been fair in many respects,” ERC chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta said in a statement last month.
The fourth regulatory reset should translate into a refund rather than a discount under the fifth regulatory reset, Hontiveros said.
“Napako na sa napakataas na 15 percent ang WACC rate ng NGCP mula pa noong (The 15 percent WACC rate of NGCP has been stuck since) 2015. Nobody should be justly enriched at the expense of another, especially when it is the Filipino people. Let us give power consumers their due,” she said.
During Monday’s Finance Sub Committee L hearing that tackled the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) budget, Secretary Renato Solidum Jr. said due to the high cost of electricity and capital, it is better to sell raw minerals which require less production cost, instead of developing them into high grade products.
Senator Robin Padilla said the DOST can develop valuable mineral deposits, given the proper support.
“Bilyong dolyar ang utang ng bansa. Isipin nyo pag nakuha natin ang ang metallic at non-metallic reserves at ang seven trillion dollar na halaga ng oil and gas, tiyak maalis tayo sa utang (Our country has billion-dollar debts. If we get our metallic and non-metallic reserves and USD7 trillion dollars worth of gas and oil, we can be debt-free),” Padilla said.
Padilla also raised the issue of using the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant as a source of energy and to bring down the high cost electricity.(PNA)
