THE overall transmission charges will increase this month, which would affect the bills of power grid consumers across the country.
At a press conference on Wednesday, February 12, National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) head of Revenue Management Julius Ryan Datinggaling said the grid operator’s transmission wheeling rates, or what it charges for its primary service of delivering power, are increased to P0.5422 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) from P0.5315 per kWh.
Likewise, NGCP’s ancillary service (AS) rate also increased by 12% to P0.6640 per kWh from P0.5928 per kWh.
The increased AS included the first tranche of the 70% deferred payments to the Reserve Market incurred in March 2024, amounting to P3.05 billion.
AS charges pertain to the cost for AS sourced from the AS Reserve Market and those for AS providers with bilateral contracts with NGCP.
It serves as an available generation capacity for dispatch for contingency in case transmission or power generation problems occur.
It forms part of the total electricity bill as AS charge, which covers the expenses for grid stability and reliability.
With increase in both AS and transmission wheeling rates, NGCP’s overall transmission charges grew to P1.3504 per kWh from P1.2583 per kWh month-on-month.
“Only 54 centavos of the overall transmission rate is charged by NGCP for the delivery of its services to power consumers. This month’s transmission charge is comprised mainly of AS charges remitted directly to power generators providing ancillary services to the grid,” said the NGCP official.
The grid operator explained that AS charges are pass-through, and generating companies benefited from this increase.
AS are support services used to balance and stabilize the grid during power supply-demand imbalance. (GMA Integrated News)
