ERC: NGCP project cost not final

Despite receiving clearance for several capital expenditure (CAPEX) projects to ease overloaded lines and add connections in Luzon and Visayas, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) said the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) must still wait for final approved project costs.

“[As] stated in the Commission’s various Orders covering these projects, the cost for each approved CAPEX project is currently considered only for the purpose of computing the permit fee and does not reflect the final cost as approved,” ERC Chairperson and CEO Monalisa C. Dimalanta clarified on Friday.

She explained that project costs will undergo further validation during NGCP’s regulatory reset, in line with the Amended Rules for Setting of Transmission Wheeling Rates (RTWR) under ERC Resolution No. 08, Series of 2022.

“These CAPEX projects are critical in strengthening our power grid, to ensure a more reliable and secure electricity supply for Filipino households, businesses, and industries.

But at the same time, it is also important to emphasize that the final costs of these projects will still undergo careful review and deliberation by the Commission to ensure consumers pay only for what is necessary and reasonable,” Dimalanta added.

To recall, the ERC recently approved two NGCP transmission projects worth over P32 billion.

These include the P18.8-billion Western Luzon 500-kV backbone project, which will boost power reliability in the region, and the P13.2-billion Nagsaag-Santiago 500-kV line, which will support incoming renewable energy from Ifugao, Kalinga, and Apayao.