NTC fee exemption for smart meters sought

Manila Electric Co., the country’s biggest power distributor has sought the exemption of smart meters from fees normally imposed on radio frequency-emitting devices.

In a briefing last week, Meralco vice president and chief information officer Marthyn S. Cuan warned that the non-exemption of the smart meters from the so-called spectrum user fees (SUFs) will burden the company’s 5 million customers with additional yearly charges of about P500 to P1,000.

These smart meters will have to be installed by Meralco as it moves toward advanced metering and smart grid infrastructure, namely the prepaid electricity and the open access and retail competition schemes.

These meters, however, will require the use of certain frequencies to allow communication across devices and equipment, and at the same time, allow its customers, particularly those that will avail of the prepaid scheme, to be able to “load” power and check their remaining power balances in real time.

Cuan said Meralco’s request for an exemption from the spectrum user fees remained pending with the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), as this will need approvals from the Department of Finance and the Office of the President. The imposition of SUFs will generate significant revenues for the NTC.

“The NTC’s response was positive but they’re all pointing to the national government, to the DoF and Office of the President, so we’re trying to schedule something with them. We’ve also asked the help of the Department of Energy because we need all the agencies to understand the impact [of the SUFs] to the end consumer,” Cuan explained.