PEMC asked to stop electricity adjustment rates

By Alena Mae S. Flores – June 24, 2021 at 07:35 pm
from manilastandard.net

The Energy Regulatory Commission ordered Philippine Electricity Market Corp. Thursday to defer the collection of the so-called Net Settlement Surplus adjustments of about P0.20 per kilowatt-hour from Manila Electric Co. customers.

“The commission resolved to defer the collection of the Net Settlement Surplus, which will be an additional charge of around P0.20 per kWh to Meralco customers, to prevent and shield the electricity consumers from a bill shock in their July 2021 electric bills,” ERC chairperson Agnes Devanadera said.

ERC directed PEMC, which oversees the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, the trading floor of electricity, to defer the collection of the NSS from distribution utilities and electric cooperatives in their final May billing.

It said NSS adjustment would have resulted in an additional charge of around P0.20 per kWh on Meralco customers by July as part of the generation charge.

The ERC issued the deferment directive upon being informed and later on confirmed by PEMC about the huge discrepancy in the WESM preliminary statement and the final statement for May 2021 supply month.

“We have ordered PEMC to defer the collection of the NSS adjustment until the investigation on the said incident has been completed. If PEMC’s collection is not suspended, concerned DUs and electric cooperatives will have additional collections from their customers resulting from the May 2021 NSS,” Devanadera said.

She said some consumers were also affected by the rotational brownouts in May.

“So it is quite unfair for them to be charged with an additional collection due to the NSS adjustment. We will get to the bottom of this and make sure that any erring market participant will get penalized as soon as it is established,” Devanadera said.