THE COST of electricity has, over the past decade or so, been a major contributor to the overall inflation rate.
My household records show that I paid P5.365 per kilowatt hour (KwH) in March 2009, but that this had almost doubled in the following four years so that by July 2013 I paid P10.26 per KwH. This is the cost charged by the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco).
My recollection is that Panay Electric Co., Inc. (PECO)’s costs rose by similar amounts, although I recall that PECO broke the P10 per KwH ‘barrier’ earlier than Ceneco.
On April 30, 2015, PECO applied to the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) in which it sought the approval of ERC for its calculations of, primarily, the Generation and Systems Loss Rates for the three year period 1 January 2012 to 31 December 2014.
According to PECO it had undercharged its customers by P128.4 million over this period.
The ERC’s response was to approve PECO’s application “with modification”.
The modification was not trivial and ERC converted PECO’s alleged “under-recovery” of P128.4 million to an “over-recovery” of P527.8 million.
Some modification!
The difference between PECO’s application and ERC’s response is, therefore, P656.2 million.
The over-recovery of P527.8 million should be refunded to PECO’s customers.
But when?
ERC’s decision was promulgated on Dec. 28, 2020.
The tone of ERC’s 38-page document (ERC Case No. 2015-034 CF) is firm.
Its last page says:
“Relative to the foregoing, PECO is hereby directed to immediately implement the refund upon receipt of this Decision, and to submit, within 10 days from its implementation, a sworn statement indicating its compliance with this Decision.”
There is a sting in the tail.
“Furthermore, PECO is hereby directed to file its Consolidated Applications for confirmation and approval of its calculations of (over) or under recoveries in the implementation of automatic cost adjustments and true-up mechanisms for the period January 2015 to December 2019.”
Yikes!/PN
