National Grid seeks additional 5¢ rate hike in Mindanao

MANILA, Philippines - Mindanao electricity consumers may have pay an additional five centavos per kilowatthour (kwh) to recover costs incurred from damages caused by sabotage.

In a rate hike application to the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP), the operator of the country’s power transmission highway, said these costs could be recovered. NGCP used to carry out the functions of government-owned National Transmission Corp. (TransCo).

NGCP, in particular, proposed a recovery of the five centavos per kwh in Mindanao from Dec. 26, 2009 to Dec. 25, 2010.

According to NGCP, these acts of sabotage should be considered as “force majeure” events.

In its petition, NGCP urged the ERC to declare the incidents of sabotage in 2008, destroying Tower 52 and 31 in Mindanao, as force majeure events.

“The occurrence of the aforementioned force majeure events required capital infusion, the recovery of which should be allowed in order to avoid placing financial strain on the transmission system operator, and to allow it to continuously provide the necessary transmission service to the grid customers,” NGCP said.

The affected facilities are Tower 52, part of the Agus 2-Kibawe 138-kilovolt line at Bubong Lanao del Sur, that was toppled due to heavy pilferage and cutting of lattices with a steel; and Tower 31, part of the Abaga–Agus 2 138 kilovolt line in Pantar, Lanao del Norte, which was bombed.

The grid operator had already restored and rehabilitated the damaged towers.

However, it pointed out that the expenses on the rehabilitation and repair should be recouped to be able to pour in more budget for capital expenditure.

To defend its petition, NGCP said the cost to rehabilitate the damaged facilities will ultimately redound to the best interest and benefit of the consuming public in terms of continuous, reliable and efficient power supply.”