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Consumers are seeing higher transmission rates this month due to increase in ancillary service (AS) rates, according to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).
In a briefing on Wednesday, Sept. 17, Julius Datingaling,NGCP head for revenue management department, announced that its transmission rate in August rose by 7.09 percent to ₱1.417 per kilowatt-hour (kWh).
This increase was due to the higher AS rates, which had gone up to ₱0.6659/kWh from ₱0.5872/kWh.
AS charges are pass-through costs for electricity supplied by generators during supply-demand imbalances.
According to NGCP, these charges are remitted to generation companies with which they have bilateral contracts, as well as to the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) for ancillary services sourced from the Reserve Market.
“Based on the information gathered from IEMOP, there [are] two reasons: one is the increase on the spot quantity, and the second one is the increase on the prices [from] the oil-based power plants,” Datingaling elaborated.
Despite the expected power demand movements in the coming “BER” months (which starts from September to December), Cynthia Alabanza, NGCP spokesperson, explained that market forces will determine the prices moving forward.
“Because it’s market-driven, so the rules on supply and demand will apply. It’s not always going up. There are months, like last month, that prices in the reserve market has slightly gone done,” she said.
The grid operator’s transmission wheeling rate, which is the charge for delivering power through the grid, has incrementally increased from ₱0.5923/kWh to ₱0.5970/kWh.
NGCP clarified that it collects only around ₱0.5970/kWh for its transmission service, with ancillary services (AS) remaining the largest component of transmission-related costs.
Despite the increase, consumers under the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) will see a ₱0.1852/kWh reduction this month due to a lower generation charge.
Boracay power outage assessed
Meanwhile, the NGCP assured on its part that it has assessed the situation in Boracay Island after a weekend-long power outage.
On Sept. 13, Boracay experienced a power interruption due to damaged underground cables located within the Caticlan Airport, while the Nabas-Unidos 69-kilovolt (kV) transmission line tripped.
Alabanza clarified that NGCP had already addressed the transmission concern last Saturday.
“In fact, the bypass line that the distribution utility needed to expedite restoration of power services from their end, NGCP helped them put up that bypass line,” she said.
“This particular line it’s on the distribution utility. We’re done [NGCP]… We fixed our portion.”
The NGCP, along with Aklan Electric Cooperative (Akelco), has constructed a temporary 69 kV bypass overhead line which spans 800 meters in the Airport’s runway to help restore power to the island.
Furthermore, NGCP’s 138 kV Nabas-Caticlan-Boracay transmission line project, which has been ordered to be expedited, is expected to improve power infrastructure in the area. The project is valued at around ₱5.48 billion.
