NGCP: Transmission rates down for October billing

MANILA, Philippines —  Power consumers should expect lower overall transmission charges in their electricity bills this month, according to the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).

At a press conference yesterday, the NGCP said ancillary service (AS) rates for the September supply period dipped by 7.3 percent to P0.568 per kilowatt-hour from the preceding month’s P0.6127 per kWh.

AS costs are pass-through costs charged to support services used to balance and stabilize the power grid during supply-demand imbalance.

The lower AS charges offset the slight increase in transmission wheeling rates, or what the NGCP charges for its primary service of delivering power.

“Of the overall transmission charge, only 49 centavos is charged by the NGCP for the delivery of its services to power consumers,” the grid operator said.

The NGCP reiterated that this month’s transmission rate consists mainly of AS charges, which are remitted directly to power generators providing AS to the grid.

A typical electricity bill includes transmission charges, generation costs, distribution charges, taxes and other fees.

Earlier, power distribution giant Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) indicated a potential decrease in generation costs for this month.

The generation charge covers the cost of power purchased by Meralco from independent power producers and the wholesale electricity spot market (WESM), as well as through power supply agreements.

The lower generation costs were mainly driven by the decline in WESM rates due to reduced demand during the September supply month.