New electricity charge hits bills in January

Electricity users will see a new charge on their bills starting January, as the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) approved the collection of the Green Energy Auction Allowance (GEA-All) at P0.0371 per kilowatt-hour.

At a media briefing on Friday, ERC chairperson and CEO Francis Saturnino C. Juan confirmed the price adjustment.

He said the fee “is to be charged to all on-grid end-users to fund the differential amount needed to fully pay all GEA eligible plants.”

It will appear as a separate line item on bills, collected by Distribution Utilities, Retail Electricity Suppliers, or the National Grid Corporation, depending on the type of customer.

All collected funds must be remitted to the TransCo-managed GEA-All Fund by the 15th of the following month. The ERC also ordered power companies to make records available for an immediate audit to ensure transparency.