TransCo sets penalties for failure to remit FIT-All charges

MANILA, Philippines - Collection agents that fail to promptly or fully remit revenues from the feed-in tariff (FIT) allowance (FIT-All) collections would be slapped penalty charges, according to the National Transmission Co. (TransCo), the administrator of the FIT-All.

At a rate of four centavos per kilowatt-hour, the FIT-All would be charged to all electricity consumers, similar to a universal charge which is a separate line in electricity bills and is used to pay off the debts of the National Power Corp. (Napocor), the state-owned power company.

The FIT-All would be given to renewable energy players as an incentive to invest in the more expensive but less lucrative renewable energy (RE) sector.  Renewable energy players are solar, wind, biomass and small hydropower companies.

The charge would be collected by distribution utilities such as Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), retail electricity suppliers, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) and the Philippine Electricity Market Corp. (PEMC), the grid operator.

According to TransCo, collection agents that fail to remit the collections would be slapped with penalties such as a monthly interest on unpaid amounts based on the prevailing 91-day Treasury Bill rate at the close of each billing period that the amount remains unpaid; a 20 percent surcharge if there was failure to remit the collections for two successive billing periods and possible disconnection from the grid by the NGCP upon instruction of TransCo in case of failure to remit collections for more than two successive billing periods.

The FIT-All charge has already been collected from customers beginning this month despite a case filed at the Supreme Court by lawyer Remigio Michael Ancheta who insists that FIT-All is unconstitutional.