AS IF THE dilemmas aren’t enough, power consumers in Metro Manila and adjoining regions should brace for a tougher year ahead as the Energy Regulatory Commission(ERC) approved Meralco’s petition seeking the imposition of additional charges to bankroll its renewable energy initiatives.
According to ERC chairman and chief-executive-officer Atty. Francis Saturnino Juan, Meralco has been allowed to recover some P30.7 billion due to the termination of several power supply agreements while a P0.0371 per kilowatt-hour Green Energy Auction Allowance (GEA-All) will be added to the consumption billing statements beginning January.
Juan explained that “[they] are not just fixing the rate setting of power distribution utilities moving forward [but] are also fixing the ones in the past.”
“The reason why we have this process is in order to determine if they are charging the right amount back then so that we can arrange refunds later for consumers if needed,” he noted.
However, the timing of the recovery is still being discussed even as the ERC cited the need to include provisions to ensure that Meralco’s bid to recover “losses” will not impact so much the electricity consumers.
Still, it was clarified that the GEA-All will be tagged as a separate line item in consumer bills that are used to compensate the developers of renewable energy projects. It will be similar to the feed-in tariff allowance (FIT-All) which will be lowered to P0.2011 per kilowatt-hour beginning January from the current P0.2073.