ERC to review FIT-All suspension

MANILA, Philippines — The possibility of extending the suspension of the feed-in tariff allowance (FIT-All) collection, which helped mitigate high electricity rates the past three months, is up for review by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) this week.

“This matter is up for the commission’s deliberation this week,” ERC chair Monalisa Dimalanta told The STAR.

The suspension of the collection of the FIT-All is set to end this month.

Collection of the FIT-All was suspended following the issuance by the ERC of a resolution in November last year, halting the collection of P0.0364 per kilowatt-hour FIT-All rate for three months from December 2022 to February 2023.

The suspension was made to help lower electricity rates and temporarily relieve consumer pressure brought by inflation.

In coming up with the resolution last year, the ERC reviewed the FIT-All fund balance and determined that its healthy status was sufficient to cover the FIT-All payment requirements for three billing months.

The ERC earlier said it would review once again the status of the FIT-All fund prior to the end of the three-month period covered by the suspension order to determine if a further extension or other reliefs would be available to consumers.

The FIT-All is a uniform charge imposed on all on-grid electricity consumers. It is a component of the electricity bill that ensures the development and promotion of renewable energy in the country.

Meanwhile, as part of the ERC’s commitment for the realization of least cost pricing, Dimalanta said the revised guidelines for the competitive selection process (CSP) will be issued for public consultation in the next few weeks.

“We are reviewing, together with the Department of Energy (DOE), the current CSP guidelines, with the intention of making it a more streamlined process, more responsive to the needs of the times,” Dimalanta said.

“In fact, as we had discussed with the DOE, we will do a joint exercise for new CSP guidelines. The DOE will post the new draft for consultation and ERC will also post the counterpart guidelines so that we can address all issues together, approach it in a more holistic manner, and we avoid gaps in our issuances,” she said.

The CSP is the process wherein a power supplier is chosen to supply electric power requirements of a distribution utility through transparent and competitive bidding.

It is mandated by government to get the least cost power to consumers.

The CSP policy was issued by the DOE to speed up power supply procurement.