The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) said it is exploring its options to take after the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) denied its omnibus motion to hold in abeyance the reset of rates until further public consultations are held and until certain provisions of the amended rules for setting transmission wheeling rates (RTWR) have been clarified.
The amended RTWR determines how much the national transmission utility NGCP is allowed to charge for transmission rates that users pay for the use of transmission facilities necessary for the delivery of electricity to households, industries, and commercial establishments.
“We received the ERCs latest order. Offhand, there seems to be a few points of disagreement which will have a substantive impact on proceedings. We are still exploring our options. We are optimistic the ERC will be fair in its treatment of all energy industry players,” NGCP said in a statement.
The ERC said the denial was made as the amended RTWR which covers rate reset for the fourth regulatory period covering years 2016 to 2022 and fifth regulatory periods covering years 2023 to 2027 must be treated differently.
A regulatory reset is being done to check whether the allowed revenues of NGCP and its charges to customers are still valid and reflective of current costs. During the reset, the ERC will scrutinize the expenditure items of the company and other parameters to make sure only eligible and reasonable costs are being passed on to consumers.
The regulatory body also specified the fourth regulatory period for NGCP should use actual expenditures and not forecasts as the covered years lapsed.
NGCP said the ERC provisions on the said period were made in haste and without public consultation that violated due process requirements.
Despite denying the omnibus motion, ERC said NGCP is not precluded from preparing and filing its application before the regulatory body on the basis of its understanding of the amended RTWR but the application will be subjected to another round of ventilation and due process once public hearings are held.
The ERC also gave NGCP a non-extendable period of 15 calendar days from receipt of the order to file its reset application covering the fourth regulatory period citing that the last transmission reset completed was for the regulatory period covering the years 2011 to 2015. -Jed Macapagal
