Electricity transmission cost continues to slide

Electricity transmission charges are down to 4 centavos for every peso spent on electricity as of the May billing period, suggesting a continuing downtrend since National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) took over the power grid in 2009.

Transmission charge is the cost of delivering and balancing high-voltage electricity from the power generators to the distribution utilities.

Data from NGCP showed that the transmission charge averaged 73 centavos a kilowatt-hour (kWh) in 2009 and had been going down yearly since 2013 when it was at 69 centavos.

In a statement, NGCP said its pass-on transmission charge continued to go down, hitting a low of P0.51 a kWh as of 2019.

“The transmission charge has been consistently on its downtrend when compared with the 69 centavos per kWh charged by National Transmission Corp. [in 2008] prior to the privatization of the transmission assets in 2009,” the company added.

NGCP is the private entity that won the 25-year contract to manage, operate, expand and improve the country’s power transmission system in a privatization process carried out by Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp.