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CONSUMERS are being short-changed from receiving quality
electricity service, with the National Power Corp. (Napocor)
collecting some 37.56 centavos per kilowatt-hour in
ancillary service charges, according to the National
Transmission Corp. (Transco).
According to a letter sent to Napocor furnished to
reporters by a source, Transco—the system operator—said
the state-run power company has collected P800 million
worth of ancillary service charges in the electricity
bills of customers within Manila Electric Co.’s (Meralco)
franchise area alone.
The
ancillary service charges are collected from consumers
all over the country by Transco, which it then remits to
Napocor.
In the
past 11 months, Transco noted that ancillary service
charges collected from consumers could already run up to
P8.8 billion, and yet electricity end- users never
fully benefited from such service they have been paying
for.
“Since
September 21 last year, Transco has been continuously
collecting from the consumers the ancillary charges as
if these have been fully supplied by Napocor, and that
it [Napocor] has been receiving the full payment of
ancillary services, but has failed to deliver the
required level,” said Transco acting vice president for
system operation Eugene H. Bicar, in a letter addressed
to Napocor vice president for sales and services Oscar
Lorico and Power Sector Assets and Liabilities
Management Corp. (PSALM) vice president for asset
management and electricity trading Froilan A. Tampinco.
The
Transco letter further indicated that the Napocor and
PSALM trading teams at the Wholesale Electricity Spot
Market are not nominating capacities for spinning
reserves since July 5, 2007, up to the present.
It added
that such practice reported has resulted in having a
critical reserve level for Luzon that greatly
compromises the grid’s reliability.
The
system operator even requested Napocor and PSALM to
religiously submit its daily nominations for ancillary
services and maximize the reserve capacity of certified
plants to comply with the Energy Regulatory Commission’s
(ERC) orders.
The ERC
granted Transco a provisional authority to implement the
ancillary services cost recovery mechanism (AS-CRM),
which Transco plans to implement to prevent acts that
redound to shortchanging electricity consumers.
“The
recent privatization of the Magat and Pantabangan
hydroelectric plants and the consistently low nomination
of reserves by Napocor and PSALM compels us to implement
the AS-CRM,” Transco stressed.
Transco
also warned Napocor that such move may reduce the
revenue of Napocor as it also urged the state-run power
company to firm up with them an ancillary services
procurement agreement. |
