CONSUMERS can expect an increase in transmission charges in their March 2025 electric bills due to higher ancillary services (AS) rates.
Transmission wheeling rate, or what the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) charges for its primary service of delivering power, has gone down by 3.14% from P0.5422 per kilowatt hour (kWh) in January 2025 billing period to P0.5252/kWh in February 2025 billing period.
AS rates for the February 2025 billing period increased by 5.05%, with P0.6975/kWh compared to P0.6640/kWh in January 2025 billing period. This cost includes the second tranche of the settlement of the remaining 70% AS cost from the Reserve Market for the March 2024 billing period whose recovery was deferred by the Energy Regulatory Commission.
AS charges pertain to the cost for AS sourced from the reserve market and those for AS providers with bilateral contracts with NGCP.
“For the March 2025 billing of the end-consumers, NGCP charges only 52 centavos/kWh for the delivery of its services. The bulk of transmission charges is for AS, which is remitted directly to AS providers,” stated the company.
NGCP does not earn from AS and did not benefit from the increase in prices. The AS cost is a pass-through cost, and generating companies benefitted from this increase. AS are support services used to balance and stabilize the grid during power supply-demand imbalance./PN
