The National Power Corp. (Napocor) has filed separate petitions with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to recover nearly P1 billion of deferred fuel and foreign exchange power costs delivered in off-grid areas.
The application is under the 16th generation rate adjustment mechanism (GRAM) and 14th, 15th and 16rh incremental currency exchange rate adjustment (ICERA).
For GRAM, Napocor involves P931.6 million recovery of deferred fuel costs from consumers in Napocor-Small Power Utilities Group (SPUG) areas dating July to December 2015.
In its petition, the state-run company suggested to charge an additional P0.6202 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for off-grid consumers in Luzon, P0.5068-kWh in Visayas, and P0.6428-kWh in Mindanao over two years.
Meanwhile, the ICERA will take into account foreign exchange rate fluctuations, on top of the P24.8 million costs incurred from June 26, 2014 to December 25, 2015.
Should this push through, customers in missionary areas will be charged an additional P0.0472-kWh in their monthly bills.
Napocor’s SPUG is under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) of 2001, or Republic Act No. 9136, which mandates the government-owned enterprise to provide electricity to areas not connected to the three main transmission grids in the country.
Off-the-grid communities include Palawan, Mindoro and Mindanao, where renewable energy sources are ideal for investment entries.
