Order, ERC Case No. 2008-031RCERC orders NPC to reduce rates
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) provisionally ordered, on June 11, 2008, the National Power Corporation (NPC) to reduce rates in Luzon by 71.16 centavos/kWh and in Mindanao by 2.46 centavos/kWh. Visayas, however, will have an increase in rates by 8.78 centavos/kWh, as applied for by NPC using its proposed recovery periods and not those periods determined by the ERC for the Luzon grid so as to maintain the increase to that level applied for by NPC. The provisional approvals pertain to NPC’s Deferred Accounting Adjustment (DAA) applications on the: (1) incremental fuel and independent power producer (IPP) costs under the Generation Rate Adjustment Mechanism (the 9th GRAM); and (2) foreign currency exchange rate based cost fluctuations under the Incremental Currency Exchange Rate Adjustment (the 8th ICERA) only for the billing period of July to December 2006. The applications were docketed as ERC Case Nos. 2008-031 RC and 2008-032 RC, respectively.
The adjustments will be effective starting the May 26 to June 25, 2008 billing period and will run either: (a) until the end of the corresponding recovery periods or (b) until such time that the full amount shall have been refunded or recovered or (c) until the next applications for refund or collection of GRAM and ICERA adjustments are filed and approved by the ERC, whichever comes earliest.
The ERC noted that the NPC’s latest GRAM and ICERA filings did not cover the entire period of July 2006 to March 2008 which the ERC earlier directed NPC to file. Thus, for the GRAM/ICERA adjustments for the Luzon grid, considering that the resulting figures indicate that a refund should be made, the ERC imputed carrying charges on the amounts that should have been refunded in the period July 2006 to April 2008 to benefit the consumers who could have enjoyed such reductions earlier had NPC filed its GRAM and ICERA applications within the timelines prescribed in the ERC guidelines.
“The
NPC has been directed to expedite the filing of the application for the remaining
period of January 2007 to March 2008 to further help moderate the plight of
end-consumers who are already burdened with high prices of basic commodities.
Also, an explanation on why the applications were made partially instead of
the full period must be adequately established,” Chairman Albano concluded.
Order, ERC Case No. 2008-031RC
Order, ERC
Case No. 2008-032RC
June 25 , 2008