ERC seen to okay Napocor petition for rate adjustment
The Philippine Star
06/23/2006
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is likely to approve a lower rate for the recovery of the National Power Corp.’s latest incremental currency exchange rate adjustment (ICERA) and generation rate adjustment mechanism (GRAM) applications, an ERC official said.
"It’s hard to predict what the ERC’s decision will be, but normally we approve the petitions but the approved rates are always lower than what Napocor files. We can say that the approved rates will be lower that what they filed," a ranking ERC official said in an interview.
The ERC official said the commission would release the decision on the two Napocor rate increase applications by the middle of next month. "We will have until mid-July to decide on Napocor’s petitions. The mid-July deadline is already the end of the 45-day extension we implemented."
In separate decisions released early this month, the ERC, instead of granting automatic implementation, extended for another 45 days the resolution of Napocor’s GRAM and ICERA applications for the period covering April 26 to Oct. 25, 2005.
Under its GRAM application, Napocor pushed for the approval of its deferred accounting adjustment charges of P0.4175 per kilowatthour (kwh) for the Luzon grid, P0.3597 per kwh in Visayas and P0.5217 per kwh for Mindanao over the seven-month period. These price adjustments are recoverable in 12, six and 18 months, respectively.
At the same time, Napocor, under its application for ICERA, urged the ERC to approve its adjustments for debt service and operational expenses of P0.1410 per kwh in Luzon, P0.1997 per kwh in Visayas and P0.0373 per kwh in Mindanao and for actual payments of capacity and infrastructure fees of P0.4486 per kwh in Luzon, P0.0205 per kwh in Visayas recoverable in 24 months.
Napocor filed the petitions on April 18, 2006 and could have automatically implemented them on June 2 this year had not the ERC invoked the GRAM and ICERA implementing rules.
The additional generation cost and currency exchange rate would have been reflected by all concerned distribution utilities since under the law, generation cost is a direct pass-through to consumers.
In separate rulings, however, the ERC argued that the 45-day resolution deadline set by the implementing rules should not apply since the same rules provide only for a three-month recovery period.
But Napocor had filed for a seven-month recovery, which the ERC said would need more time to resolve. Thus, ERC extended the deadline of June 2, 2006.
06/23/2006
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is likely to approve a lower rate for the recovery of the National Power Corp.’s latest incremental currency exchange rate adjustment (ICERA) and generation rate adjustment mechanism (GRAM) applications, an ERC official said.
"It’s hard to predict what the ERC’s decision will be, but normally we approve the petitions but the approved rates are always lower than what Napocor files. We can say that the approved rates will be lower that what they filed," a ranking ERC official said in an interview.
The ERC official said the commission would release the decision on the two Napocor rate increase applications by the middle of next month. "We will have until mid-July to decide on Napocor’s petitions. The mid-July deadline is already the end of the 45-day extension we implemented."
In separate decisions released early this month, the ERC, instead of granting automatic implementation, extended for another 45 days the resolution of Napocor’s GRAM and ICERA applications for the period covering April 26 to Oct. 25, 2005.
Under its GRAM application, Napocor pushed for the approval of its deferred accounting adjustment charges of P0.4175 per kilowatthour (kwh) for the Luzon grid, P0.3597 per kwh in Visayas and P0.5217 per kwh for Mindanao over the seven-month period. These price adjustments are recoverable in 12, six and 18 months, respectively.
At the same time, Napocor, under its application for ICERA, urged the ERC to approve its adjustments for debt service and operational expenses of P0.1410 per kwh in Luzon, P0.1997 per kwh in Visayas and P0.0373 per kwh in Mindanao and for actual payments of capacity and infrastructure fees of P0.4486 per kwh in Luzon, P0.0205 per kwh in Visayas recoverable in 24 months.
Napocor filed the petitions on April 18, 2006 and could have automatically implemented them on June 2 this year had not the ERC invoked the GRAM and ICERA implementing rules.
The additional generation cost and currency exchange rate would have been reflected by all concerned distribution utilities since under the law, generation cost is a direct pass-through to consumers.
In separate rulings, however, the ERC argued that the 45-day resolution deadline set by the implementing rules should not apply since the same rules provide only for a three-month recovery period.
But Napocor had filed for a seven-month recovery, which the ERC said would need more time to resolve. Thus, ERC extended the deadline of June 2, 2006.
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