Transco compliant with ERC order on computation of FiT revenues

By Lenie Lectura – October 8, 2018
from Business Mirror

THE National Transmission Corp. (Transco) said over the weekend it has complied with an order of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to use the committed capacity of renewable-energy (RE) developers as reflected in the Department of Energy’s (DOE) certificate of endorsement (COE) as basis in the computation of feed-in-tariff (FiT) revenues.

Transco President Melvin Matibag said the state firm  earlier followed the capacities reflected in the ERC’s certificate of compliance for payment of FiT revenues as this document is the one that grants final eligibility for FiT to the RE plants. “I am pleased this issue has been clarified between the DOE and ERC.  But it is also important to note that Transco pays only for energy that is actually generated by the RE plants, not projected nor committed,”Matibag said.

In February 2018 the ERC wrote to Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi requesting clarification and guidance specifically on the application of the plant capacity that should be the basis in the computation of the FiT revenue.

Cusi said the capacity provided in the DOE’s COE is the committed capacity by the RE developer and hence, should serve as the basis of the computation of the FiT revenue.  A coordination meeting was then held on April 2 among the DOE, ERC and Transco to discuss the basis of each other’s consideration of FiT capacity.

Following the April 11 ERC order to use the committed capacity in DOE’s COE, Transco started offsetting the overpayments in August after coordination and validation with concerned RE developers. The updated amount at the time of implementation was P47 million.