NGCP seeks recovery of P208-M repair cost for damaged facilities
The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) is seeking regulatory approval to recover a total P208.37 million spent for the repair and rehabilitation of its facilities due to damage caused by Typhoon Glenda last year.
The grid operator filed a petition with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for a provisional approval for the collection of the force majeure pass-through costs from its customers in Luzon and Visayas.
NGCP said Glenda severely damaged its transmission assets in Luzon and Visayas due to strong winds and heavy rainfall in July 2014.
The grid operator said it spent P194.84 million for the repair, restoration and rehabilitation of damaged transmission assets and other related facilities due to Glenda.
Meanwhile, the recoverable value of the assets destroyed is equivalent to P13.53 million.
In its application with the ERC, NGCP proposed to recover costs starting October 2015 to December 2020, or until such time that the amount is fully recovered.
Once approved, NGCP's customers, or the power distributors to the grid, will have to pay for the pass-through costs on top of the transmission charge.
Luzon customers will have to pay an additional P2.75 per kilowatt (kw) every month in 2015 starting October; P0.28 per kw a month in 2016; P0.26 per kw a month in 2017; P0.25 per kw a month in 2017; P0.23 per kw a month in 2019; and P0.22 per kw a month in 2020.
Meanwhile, customers in Visayas will have an additional cost of P0.86 per kw a month in 2015 starting October; P0.04 per kw a month from 2016 to 2018; and P0.03 per kw a month from 2019 to 2020.
“It must be emphasized that the occurrence of the aforementioned FME (force majeure event) Typhoon Glenda required massive capital infusion, thus, the recovery of which should be allowed immediately in order to avoid any financial strain in the operation of NGCP and to allow the continuous provision of transmission service to the grid customers," the grid operator said in its petition.