Green Energy Auction called feed-in tariff scheme in disguise

By Marielle C. Lucenio – February 7, 2022 | 10:58 pm
from Business World

A CONSUMER organization has asked the Department of Energy (DoE) to defer the Green Energy Auction Program (GEAP), which it described as a disguised feed-in tariff (FIT) and FIT-allowance (FIT-ALL), which consumers ultimately pay for.

“While it bears a different name, the GEAP is an obvious disguise (for) FIT-ALL and would still result in additional burden for electricity consumers who would eventually have to pay the charges to be remitted to the renewable energy (RE) developers (participating in the program,” Laban Konsyumer, Inc. President Victorio Mario A. Dimagiba said in its Feb. 5 letter addressed to Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi.

Asked to comment, Mr. Cusi told BusinessWorld in a text message that he has yet to receive the letter. 

Mr. Dimagiba said that unlike with renewable portfolio standards (RPS), the DoE program which requires power distribution utilities (DU), electric cooperatives, and retail electricity suppliers to source a portion of their energy mix from RE sources, the GEAP does not shield consumers from higher power prices.

“There is no assurance that the resulting Green Energy Tariff (GET) would be lower than recently approved RE-based Power Supply Agreements (PSA) of distribution utilities,” he said.

GET is a feature of the GEAP which influences the commercial value of power generated from qualified RE facilities and sets a benchmark price for DUs under an Opt-in Mechanism.

With the Opt-in Mechanism, the DU can procure power from the GEAP pool of winning bidders to reduce Feed-in Tariff-All charges to the end-users.

The GEAP aims to boost the RE share of the power mix, incentivizing eligible RE generators participating in the bid. The target is for RE to comprise 35% RE of al power sources mix by 2030.

On Jan. 25, the DoE called on RE companies to supply a total of 2,000 megawatts in the first round of the GEAP.