Thursday, August 09, 2007 Power firm under probe for 'illegal collection of fees'
THE state-owned National Power Corporation (Napocor) is now the subject of an investigation by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for collecting multibillion-pesos of ancillary charges from its customers for power supply not fully delivered.
According to ERC chairman Rodolfo Albano, they will scrutinize the documents of Napocor in particular the collection it made for ancillary services and what volume had been supplied to the National Transmission Corporation (Transco) in order to determine the exact amount collected.
"Consumers are not supposed to pay for services or power supply not delivered to them," Albano said.
He said the investigation will also determine how much refund would be returned to the consumers if proven that Napocor charged its customers for undelivered services.
The collection for ancillary service charges done by Transco and remitted to Napocor have reached P20 billion since September last year.
But Napocor president Cyril del Callar denied that they are charging ancillary services for undelivered power supply.
"We fully understand the major importance that the provision of ancillary services plays in assuring an efficient, reliable and continuous supply of electricity. Together with the National Transmission Corporation, more than compliance to the Philippine Grid Code as well as to various orders and statutes from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), our objective as provider of ancillary services is to assure that our customers are getting the best electric power service possible," del Callar said.
Del Callar further asserted that the provision of ancillary services is just part of the ongoing transition, resulting from the ongoing reforms being implemented in the power industry today.
"The arrangement for the provision of ancillary services has been transferred to Transco with Napocor retaining the function as the supplier of these services. There are costs relative to the provision of ancillary services. These costs are already included in the transmission charge," he explained.
He likewise argued that since ancillary services are dependent on the available generation capacity in the grid, at any given time, the total amount of ancillary services provided by Napocor are sometimes more or less than normally required by the system.
"Various factors affect the level of ancillary service that can be provided by Napocor, including availability of generation capacity, and water levels of dams for hydropower plants as well as the transfer of ownership of some plants such as Magat, Pantabangan and Masinloc due to privatization. Hydropower plants are currently the best source of ancillary services," he said.
Del Callar said Transco and Napocor are discussing the issues in order to come up with a program aimed at the continuous provision of ancillary services and its accompanying costs. (MSN/Sunnex)
