THE National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) has submitted to the Energy Regulatory Commission an application to collect Force Majeure Pass-Through charges to compensate it for damage caused by typhoons and earthquakes in 2019.

In a disclosure Thursday, the NGCP said that the proposed charges will be used to recover costs incurred in rehabilitating its transmission assets and facilities damaged by Typhoons “Tisoy” (International name: Kammuri) and “Ursula” (International name: Phanfone), and various earthquakes in Mindanao in 2019.

The proposed charge will be reflected as additional network charges for end-users “from January 2021 up to December 2025, or until such time that the amounts incurred are fully recovered.”

The prospective charge will start at P0.35 kilowatt per month (kW-mo), or P0.00067 kilowatt per hour (kWh) in 2021 for Luzon consumers.

Meanwhile, the corresponding amounts for Visayas and Mindanao consumers will start at P0.8742 kW-mo or P0.00181 kWh, and P0.2178 kW-mo or P0.00045 kWh respectively next year.

In a statement published in a national newspaper Thursday, the NGCP said that it has not recovered the cost incurred in repairing and restoring its transmission assets and facilities from its Industrial All-Risk insurance policy taken out with the Government Service Insurance System.

“Regardless of the distance of the damaged assets and facilities from the nearest substation perimeter fence, the total repair and rehabilitation cost is still within the policy’s deductible amount of One (1) Million US Dollars ($1,000,000.000) for each of the Force Majeure Events (FME),” the NGCP said.

The company added that it would have “normally recovered the return of capital on the affected assets, if they were not damaged or destroyed by FME.”

The NGCP sought to immediately recover the actual expenses for the repair, restoration and rehabilitation of its assets and facilities to “avoid any financial strain in its operations and to allow the continuous provision of transmission services to the grid customers.”

Privately-owned NGCP is in charge of operating, maintaining, and developing the power grid. It is structured as a consortium led by Monte Oro Grid Resources Corp., Calaca High Power Corp., and the State Grid Corp. of China, which holds a 40% interest.

According to the Rules for Setting Transmission Wheeling Rates, the NGCP is permitted to recover costs incurred in repairing, restoring and rehabilitating its transmission assets and other related facilities that were damaged by FME. — Angelica Y. Yang

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