The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) said the feed-in-tariff allowance (FIT-All) collected by renewable energy providers may remain suspended till the end of the year.
Monalisa Dimalanta, ERC chairperson, told reporters its monitoring the FIT-All fund supports its continued suspension in the final three months of the year. The FIT-All had been in suspension since December last year, effectively allowing power consumers to shave P0.0364 per kilowatt hour (kWh) from their monthly power bills.
The FIT-All extends a premium rate for renewable energy (RE) producers as incentive from the government, adjusted yearly as needed.
Dimalanta said data at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) show the FIT-All fund remaining sufficient despite its suspended state.
“We regularly monitor because WESM prices impact on amounts charged against the fund. Before it gets depleted, if necessary, we will need to lift the suspension of collection of the FIT-All so we will start building up the fund again to pay RE developers supplying power as part of the FIT program,” Dimalanta said.
Earlier, the National Transmission Corp. (TransCo) asked for an increase in the FIT-All in 2024 to P0.0867 per kWh from the current P0.0364 per kWh.
In its petition before the ERC docketed 27 July, TransCo said the 138- percent increase is enough incentive for power plants that secured benefits from the feed-in-tariff (FIT) as well as those that qualified to bid under the Green Energy Auction (GEA).
Both the FIT and GEA were launched to encourage the development of RE projects with incentives sourced from the FIT-All collection.
TransCo has proposed the rate adjusted starting January next year to allow the continued operation of RE power plants.
TransCo said renewable energy generation under FIT total 4,264 gigawatt hours (GWh): from biomass another 1,282 GWh, from hydro 1,188 GWh, from solar 748 GWh and from wind 1,046 GWh.
