FIT-All collection stays, says ERC

The Marcos administration has no plans to suspend the collection of the feed-in tariff allowance (FIT-All), a charge imposed on consumers to support renewable energy (RE) projects.

The policy was affirmed despite the rising cost of electricity, and the ongoing oil shock that started with the West Asia war in Iran that was started by the United States and Israel.

Sharon Montaner, director for market operations service at the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), said the FIT-All fund does not have enough buffer to allow the suspension of collections.

“It’s only enough to pay for the RE developers,” Montaner said in an interview.

This means consumers will continue to pay around P0.20 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in FIT-All charges as the country faces the impact of the global oil crisis and heightened power demand driven by extreme summer heat.

For households consuming 500 kWh, this translates to about P100 on their electricity bills.

A power bill component, FIT-All is a uniform charge collected from consumers to fund payments for eligible RE plants such as solar, wind and small hydropower facilities.

All FIT-All collections are remitted to the National Transmission Corp., which uses the fund to settle outstanding payments to RE developers and to maintain a buffer to avoid delays in future disbursements.

On top of the FIT-All rate, consumers also shoulder the green energy auction allowance (GEA-All), another charge used to support RE development.

However, collection of the GEA-All rate of around P0.037 per kWh has been suspended for this month and the next to ease pressure on the power bills.

Asked if the suspension could be extended, Montaner said the ERC would still assess the status of the GEA-All fund.

“If we see that electricity rates are quite high and there is sufficient balance in the fund, we can extend the suspension,” she said. “But right now, we only computed around two months’ sufficiency for the suspension.”

As of May 5, the GEA-All fund had maintained a healthy balance of around P466.49 million.

Over the past few weeks, consumers have taken to social media to express frustration over high electricity bills, criticizing additional government-mandated charges.

Aside from RE charges, other pass-through costs borne by consumers include senior citizen discounts, lifeline subsidies for low-income households and universal charges intended for electrification programs in remote areas.