ERC slashes fuel cost to be recovered by Meralco

THE ENERGY Regulatory Commission (ERC) has approved a lower amount of incremental fuel cost to be recovered by Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) from its customers as a result of the recent maintenance shutdown of the Malampaya natural gas facility.

“Instead of P0.9174, it will be P0.6634 per kilowatt- hour,” Floresinda B. Digal, ERC spokesperson, said in a briefing on Monday at the commission’s office in Ortigas Center, Pasig City.

The Malampaya offshore facility was out from Jan. 28 to Feb. 16, 2017, prompting power plants that run on natural gas to temporarily use more expensive fuel.

Meralco sources the power it distributes from many of these plants.

The ERC also approved the staggered collection by Meralco in three equal installments of P0.2211, which consumers will find on their monthly electricity bill in March, April and May.

Ms. Digal said Meralco had applied for P0.30 each for March and April and the balance in May.

“We were able to calculate using the actual bill of suppliers,” she said, adding that the difference between ERC and Meralco computations was due to different data sets used.

She said that when Meralco applied for the staggered rate increase, the distribution utility used projected data.

“We required them to submit the actual bills and they were

able to submit late last week [and those were what we used] to calculate kaya nagkaroon talaga ng [ that’s why there was a] difference,” Ms. Digal said.

In a statement yesterday, ERC Chairman Jose Vicente B. Salazar said: “The ERC remains true to its mandate of upholding and protecting the interest of the consuming public by ensuring that what is billed is reasonable and not excessive without compromising the continuity of electric service.”

“We will keep on finding and devising initiatives that will work for the benefit of consumers by achieving competitive power rates and quality service from electric service providers,” he added.

Meralco, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, filed last Jan. 31 its application with the ERC for the approval of the staggered recovery. It also sought provisional authority to collect payment of the differential generation charge for the February 2017 supply month.

Malampaya’s shutdown affected natural gas supply to the power plants of South Premiere Power Corp. in Ilijan, Batangas City as well as First Gen Corp.’s Sta. Rita, San Lorenzo, San Gabriel and Avion plants. —