Napocor files amended unbundled rate petition

State-owned National Power Corp. (Napocor) has filed an amended version of its unbundled rate petition with the newly-reorganized Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), a ranking ERC official said.

In an interview over the weekend, ERC commissioner Oliver Butalid said that Napocor, in its new application, has scrapped altogether its request for a 21 centavo per kilowatthour rate increase.

"The new petition of Napocor is revenue neutral," he said, adding that the power company had already presented the application that did not carry the rate adjustment.

In a previous unbundled rate petition filed with the then Energy Regulatory Board in 1998, Napocor had included a request to increase its power rates by 21 centavos per KWh to improve its return-on-rate-base (RORB), a measure of the company’s profitability. Creditors of the power firm normally impose an eight percent RORB for their loan approval.

If approved, the Napocor’s rate unbundling petition would allow it to segregate or itemize in its billings with customers the types of charges the company is imposing. The unbundled billing, Napocor said, would show a more transparent pricing.

Butalid said that the revised application of the state-run power firm is in accordance with Republic Act 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA).

After the EPIRA was approved last June, the new power regulatory commission had asked Napocor to submit a new rate unbundling application to conform with the provisions of the power bill.

According to Butalid, the new ERC board is now in the process of studying the new application of Napocor. "We will start deliberating on their application next week," he said.

The new power law has mandated Napocor to reduce its rates for residential end-users by 30 centavos per KWh upon its effectivity last June 26.

With the reduction in Napocor’s rate to its customers, mostly big distribution utilities which includes Manila Electric Co. and other electric cooperatives, the electricity rate in a household consuming 200 KWh per month will also be subsequently reduced by at least P60 and more depending on consumption.

It would be recalled that ERC had temporarily halted public hearings for rule applications for three months to allow it to study the petition.

But it was noted that the Napocor‘s petition will not carry any rate increase request thus could be acted upon by the ERC.