MANILA, Philippines — The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has issued a resolution formally suspending the collection of the feed-in tariff allowance (FIT-All) for three billing months starting next month.
This means that consumers will not be charged the less than P0.04 per kilowatt-hour (kwh) FIT-All rate in their electricity bills from December 2022 to February 2023.
The FIT-All is a uniform charge imposed on all on-grid electricity consumers.
It is a component of the electricity bill that ensures the development and promotion of renewable energy in the country.
The ERC said the suspension of the FIT-All collection is one of the immediate interventions to mitigate high electricity rates.
“The commission is sensitive to the impact of the rising level of inflation and cost of living to millions of Filipino households,” ERC chair Monalisa Dimalanta said.
“We join the rest of government in introducing remedies to ease inflation pressure on our citizens, including those that impact on their ability to pay for the rising cost of electricity due to external pressures,” she said.
Recognizing the impact of rising cost of living and inflation on the public, not to mention the rising cost of electricity, the ERC reviewed the FIT-All Fund balance and determined that its present healthy status would be sufficient to cover the FIT-All payment requirements for the next three billing months.
The ERC said it would review once again the status of the FIT-All fund prior to the end of the three-month period covered by the suspension order to determine if a further extension or other reliefs would be available to consumers.
Dimalanta said the ERC is committed to creating an environment that protects and empowers consumers to achieve energy democracy in the country.
She said transparent and accountable rate regulation would protect consumer welfare.
Dimalanta said the ERC would seek to ensure that regulated firms, including those that remain natural monopolies, follow the law because their systems and wires serve as the “playing field” where suppliers and customers make their economic decisions.
“If there is no level playing field, if players are not held accountable, there can be no genuine exercise of the right to choose. In other words, we need to create and then protect this enabling environment for us to achieve energy democracy,” she said.
“If we truly want to empower our consumers, we need to give access to information that will allow them to make the right decisions. Engage them in an exercise to promote energy literacy,” she said.
The ERC commenced this month a power supply agreement (PSA) caravan, a program to socialize proposed solutions and identify other immediate responses to cushion the effect of or arrest further increases in electricity prices.
This comes as power rates have spiked in almost all regions in the country due primarily to substantial increase in the global price of coal this year, according to the ERC.
ERC said its records showed that power rates have increased at an average of more than 20 percent in August 2022 compared to the 2021 prices.
The PSA caravan is aimed at engaging private distribution utilities and electric cooperatives in discussions and finding solutions to address the increasing electricity rates in various parts of the country.