THE GOVERNMENT has paid P23.86 billion to renewable energy developers from the feed-in-tariff (FiT) allowance collected from all on-grid electricity users, but a balance of P7.72 billion remained unpaid as of September.
Based on figures from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), the payment made by the National Transmission Corp. (TransCo) made up about 75.55% of the total payables.
The payments do not include interest payable amounting to P237.69 million as of the third quarter, the ERC data show.
TransCo is the designated administrator of the uniform charge billed to all on-grid power users. The collection, called the FiT-allowance (FiT-All) in consumers’ electricity bill, is used to pay renewable energy developers for their biomass, run-of-river hydro, solar and wind projects.
The tariff is meant to accelerate the exploration and development of clean energy sources and encourage the use of renewable energy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
TransCo has said that the unpaid FiT has accumulated in part after the Department of Energy (DoE) increased the installation target for solar power projects to 500 megawatts (MW) from 50 MW. This left more developers billing TransCo for their guaranteed FiT.
The backlog was also worsened by the delay in the approval of the rate of FiT-allowance collected from electricity users, which TransCo applies for yearly. The ERC has yet to approve TransCo’s application for a 22.91-centavo per kilowatt-hour (kWh) FiT-allowance for 2017.
In July, TransCo President and Chief Executive Officer Melvin A. Matibag said he had approached multilateral lending institutions Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and World Bank for a loan of between P15 billion and P20 billion to pay for the FiT-All.
Mr. Matibag said he had talks with China’s AIIB and the World Bank for the long-term loan. He said both financial institutions have “untouched” funds set aside for renewable energy projects. He added that TransCo’s loan repayment would come from its FiT-allowance collection in the coming years. — Victor V. Saulon
