NGCP: Middle East war won’t affect electricity grid charges

MANILA, Philippines — The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) said Wednesday that the Middle East war would have no spillover effect on electricity transmission charges.

In a media briefing, NGCP spokesperson Cynthia Alabanza reiterated that the group is “not rate-capped.”

“NGCP is revenue-capped. So NGCP’s revenue per year is the one that is predetermined by the ERC (Energy Regulatory Commission),” she told reporters.

“And because our services and our transmission wheeling rates are not fuel-dependent, there is no impact or there will be no improvement on transmission rates based on the Middle Eastern conflict,” Alabanza added.

Meanwhile, consumers may have to pay more for transmission rates for their April power bills, mainly due to higher ancillary service (AS) rates.

The overall transmission rate climbed by 4.26 percent to P1.7526 kilowatt hour (kWh) in March from February’s P1.6810 per kWh.

AS rates, or pass-through costs for power supplied by generators during supply-demand imbalance, went up to P0.8516 per kWh in March from a month ago’s P0.8275 per kWh.

“As the system operator, NGCP’s priority is to ensure the grid remains resilient during supply-demand imbalances. NGCP does not profit from AS charges, as these are remitted directly to the providers who help us maintain the continuous flow of electricity across the country,” NGCP said.

Transmission wheeling rate, or the costs for delivering power through the grid, meanwhile, inched up to P0.7022 per kWh from P0.6677 per kWh. /dda