For this Batangas community, power means reducing electricity costs

The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) had launched formally the revised rules of the Net-Metering Program, with a mass-housing community in Batangas cited as a showcase for this scheme that would allow consumers to lessen their monthly bill with their own power generator.

The program enables consumers or a group of consumers to install their own generators such as solar cells in order to reduce payments to their distribution utility, and also sell to the grid their excess generation.

The ERC launched the new rules at Via Verde in Sto. Tomas Batangas, which the regulator said was the country’s first solar-powered mass housing community. The solar photovoltaic systems are installed on the rooftops.

“These solar-powered homes mark the dawning of a new trend in mass housing as it combines world-class technology and affordability,” ERC chair Agnes Devanadera said in a statement.

The ERC earlier simplified the permitting process and also cut the cost for power consumers who wanted to install their own electricity sources, such as rooftop solar power systems.

The amended rules prescribe a maximum 20-day processing timeline for the distribution utilities to complete the whole interconnection process from receipt of the letter of interest, provided that all necessary permits and licenses from various concerned agencies are secured and completed.

Also, “soft” costs not directly related to the consumer’s participation in the program, such as the Distribution Impact Study (DIS) fee and other related costs, were also scrapped.

The ERC considered this fee unnecessary considering that such study was a regular activity of distribution utilities to ensure the reliability and stability of the distribution system.