Daily Tribune‘We are appealing to the distribution utilities (DUs) to do it on their own. Because if they don’t, the regulator will be constrained to step in. If it is needed, we will also do it but what we don’t want is to be too way forward as there are also DUs with initiative to do it’
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(Photo from Energy Regulatory Commision / Facebook)
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is asking distribution utilities (DUs) to launch their respective efforts such as the implementation of staggered payments to mitigate possible bill shock amid an imminent power bill spike as national supply still dwindles.
“We are appealing to the DUs to do it on their own. Because if they don’t do it on their own, then again, the regulator will be constrained to step in. If it is needed, we will also do it but what we don’t want is to be too way forward as there are also DUs with initiative to do it,” ERC chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta said at a briefing yesterday.
“We’re also appealing to the generators to also be receptive to these requests given the situation,” she added.
According to Dimalanta, staggered payment collection would not require a long and tedious process of approval. All the DUs have to do is notify the ERC.
Dimalanta noted that the measure is a well-thought-out plan that will effectively temper the financial burden that higher power bills may entail.
Trigger happy
“If a regulator is trigger happy and always meddle with the market, investors will think twice as they do not know the real cost of electricity if the regulator always steps in. That is part of our balancing act,” Dimalanta said.
The ERC on Tuesday declared a trading suspension of the WESM operations in Luzon and Visayas ond days when National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) raises power alerts.
During periods with high heat index and alert notices, data from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market reveals a significant increase in average daily electricity prices, with Luzon experiencing an 11 percent increase and the Visayas seeing a substantial 53 percent surge.
These price hikes are expected to have a substantial impact on consumers’ electricity bills.
The NGCP placed the Luzon Grid under yellow alert yesterday from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. due to forced outages of 20 power plant units and one more with de-rated capacities — resulting in the unavailability of 1,369.3 megawatts (MW) in the region.
Yesterday, the available capacity in the Luzon grid was only at 15,115 MW compared to a peak demand of 13,818 MW.
The alert was lifted by 4:20 p.m. yesterday.
Initial results
In another development, the ERC said its technical team is set to submit the initial results of the investigation on six power plant generators for their recent unforced outages.
Dimalanta said preliminary findings on the companies that were asked to explain will also likely be released publicly by next week.
The ERC expects to have preliminary findings by the first week of May to determine if show cause orders issuance is needed.
Last year, the ERC imposed approximately P60 million in penalties on 14 generation companies for breaching the allowable number of outage days.
Ninety-five generation companies remain under investigation for exceeding the outage allowances under ERC Resolution No. 10, series of 2020, to determine if these outages are justified or excused under the regulation.
