Saturday, May 03, 2008 Napocor cuts generation charges on Meralco
THE National Power Corporation (Napocor) has reduced the generation fees it charges the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) by 59 centavos for every kilowatt hour (kwh) bringing down the cost at P3.52 per kwh, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said Friday.
Arroyo, speaking before the General Assembly of the Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI) at the Hotel Intercon in Makati City, said Napocor made the report during one of the "few meetings" after midnight or pre-dawn that she had and which was attended by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita.
The President said this stemmed from her earlier order to Napocor to charge Meralco the same low rate of P4.11 per kwh that it charges Luzon-based electric cooperatives to help bring down the cost of electricity.
She made the directive during the energy summit from January to February after learning that Meralco pays a generation fee of P6 to P11 per kwh whenever it buys from Napocor and the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) during peak hours.
In the same summit, Arroyo suggested that concerned government agencies and private groups should submit a petition to the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) enjoining Meralco from buying electricity from WESM at peak hours.
"Last night, at a meeting after midnight -- one of the few meetings we have after midnight -- we are happy that when we were asking Napocor to account for it, they did even better. The generation cost of high-load factor Peza (Philippine Economic Zone Authority) ecozone locators has been reduced to an average Napocor billing rate to Meralco not of P4.11 but of P3.52 per kilowatt hour," she said.
Meralco in its website said its generation charge, which "is the payment for the electricity generated by suppliers such as the National Power Corporation, and Independent Power Producers as well as purchases from WESM" from January to April are as follows: P4.4275 per kwh hour; P4.1946 per kwh; P4.3885 per kwh; and P4.9073 per kwh.
The generation fees charged by Napocor from January to April are P3.9728 per kwh in January, P4.9043 per kwh in February, P4.5231 per kwh in March and P4.0173 per kwh in April.
Meralco last week announced that it would increase its electricity charges following an increase in the combined generation, transmission and systems loss charges. The utility firm claimed that its generation charges would rise by 51.88 centavos per kwh while the transmission cost is expected to rise by 7.59 centavos per kwh and systems loss by 7.70 centavos per kwh.
Arroyo said they also discussed, during the meeting that took place before dawn of Friday, the status of the petitions at the ERC and how it could be 'fast-tracked".
She said a "couple of officials" who were involved in the petitions were also present informing her that ERC would finally hear their case on May 6.
She said aside from the petition for Meralco to buy electricity during off-peak hours, three other petitions are pending before ERC.
These includes ensuring preferential treatment for poor households and power-intensive industries; prohibiting Meralco from charging systems loss as separate item; and requiring Meralco to charge distribution fees similar to the rates offered by electric cooperatives.
"We don't know how ERC will finally judge and they're independent of us so we can't dictate on them how they will judge," the President said.
Arroyo asked the members, including lawyers, of the FPI to attend the ERC hearing "because this is going to be a tough legal fight."
"And you (FPI) will be the beneficiaries, your workers will be the beneficiaries, your consumers will be the beneficiaries, the Filipino people will be the beneficiaries, but you are the ones with the means and the articulateness to be able to make a good case before the ERC," she said.
The President said that aside from the pending petition, another measure to help lower the cost of electricity is through the amendment of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act which is now pending in Congress.
Arroyo said the proposed legislation aims to provide an open access that would allow industrial consumers "to enjoy the power of choice which will also mitigate the cost of electricity". (JMR/Sunnex)
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