NGCP execs appeal for merit-based assessment

MANILA, Philippines — Amid lawmakers’ call for the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC)to penalize the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines for its supposed shortcomings, NCGP officials yesterday appealed for a merit-based assessment.

Cynthia Alabanza, NGCP assistant vice president and spokesperson, said records would show that the NGCP’s entry into the industry has brought down electricity transmission rates.

Alabanza said the NCGP is a highly regulated industry and the ERC has a say on its every project.

“We want to emphasize that we are highly regulated. We don’t decide what to build and when to build. We recommend what the system needs, but at the end of the day, it’s the ERC that says what we should and can do,” Alabanza said.

“We cannot overbuild. They have this what they call optimization. We can’t build in remote and underdeveloped barangays. The ERC tells us what to do… What we spend is also being dictated by the industry regulator, the ERC,” she added.

Redi Allan Remoroza, assistant vice president and head of the NGCP’s transmission planning department, agreed with Alabanza that the grid’s franchise is a privilege.

“We never questioned the fact that our franchise is a privilege. We just hope that we are assessed according to merits,” Alabanza said during the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum.

Alabanza said that since transmission charges are about P3 to P4 per P100 power cost, consumers could hardly feel the effect.

“Over the past 14 years, records will bear us out that transmission charges have gone down. We have spent more than P300 million in capital expenditures and I think the major setback in our part is the supposed delay in the completion of projects,” she said.

Earlier, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian urged the ERC to penalize the NGCP over its delayed transmission projects that affect the country’s electricity supply.

Gatchalian also urged the ERC to review the rate-setting methodology of the NGCP’s transmission projects.

“We admit the delays, but which industry involving construction has not experienced delays? We had a pandemic… our supply chain problems in terms of logistics have yet to fully recover,” Alabanza said.

She said that when the present NGCP administration inherited its facilities, no documents were turned over to them. They have issues to settle, including the right of way.

Alabanza said the NGCP is supposed to be in the fifth regulatory process, but the fourth has yet to be approved. The fifth should have been approved in 2019, but the last approval was in 2015.

“We have approval from the ERC from 2010 to 2015, but there was still no approval for 2016 to 2020 and 2021 to 2025, and it is already 2023,” she said.