DOE sets renewable portfolio standards for off-grid areas

The Department of Energy (DOE) has signed rules on renewable portfolio standards (RPS) for off-grid areas as well as the requirement of uniform billing among power distributors.

On the sidelines of PowerTrends 2018, DOE Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella said the RPS for off-grid areas was signed late last month and is now being processed for publication.

He said the off-grid power players are prescribed to source a percentage of electricity requirements from renewable energy (RE) sources – similar to the RPS rules for on-grid – except that it will be mandatory to the generation sector.

“They need to go hybrid,” Fuentebella said.

A provision of RE Act of 2008, RPS mandates power industry players to produce and source a certain percentage of electricity from RE sources such as biomass, waste-to-energy technology, wind energy, solar energy, run-of-river hydroelectric power systems, impounding hydroelectric power systems, ocean energy, and geothermal energy.

Rules for RPS for on-grid areas was issued in December last year, which sets 2018 and 2019 as transition years to prepare the power industry in developing their compliance plans to the minimum RPS requirements.

The RPS for off-grid areas is expected to spur socio-economic development and help address environmental concerns in the countryside.

Meanwhile, the agency also signed the circular requiring uniform billing among power distributors to empower consumers, Fuentebella said.

He said the circular calls for the inclusion of all line items in consumers’ monthly bills.

“Basically, it directs distributors to put in all line items in electricity bills and from there, we’ll find a strategy to lower electricity rates. Is it just strictly government policies or we need inputs from the consuming public to reduce power rates,” Fuentebella said.