ERC resumes FIT-ALL collection in electric bills

Power consumers will resume paying additional charges in their power bills after the Energy Regulatory Commission, or ERC, lifted the suspension of the Feed-in Tariff Allowance, or FIT-All, collection starting next month.

The decision was governed by ERC Resolution No. 01, Series of 2024 release on 16 January after the FIT-All Fund was found to be insufficient to cover another month of suspension.

Based on the ERC’s evaluation of the remaining FIT-All Fund as of 5 January, inclusive of the Cost Recovery Revenue collections in November 2023, a deficit would be imminent if the suspension is continued.

Thus, the ERC decided to approve and adopt the lifting of the suspension and to resume the collection of the FIT-All charges in February.

The FIT-All mechanism was established under the Renewable Energy Act of 2008 to boost the development of clean sources like wind, solar, run-of-river hydro, and biomass facilities.

It is a uniform charge in pesos per kilowatt-hour payable by all electricity users calculated and set annually.

The FIT-All fund collected is being administered by the National Transmission Corp. to cover payments to renewable energy developers under the FIT system.

The ERC ordered a temporary suspension in the collection in December 2022 until January 2024 given the then healthy state of the FIT-All Fund and to alleviate the burden of Filipinos amid the rising costs of electricity in 2022.

The suspension of FIT-All collection was one of the immediate interventions the ERC discussed with the distribution utilities to help consumers cope with the high inflation.