The House Committee on Energy will hold a briefing on the deteriorating state of the Visayas power grid and the ancillary service charges being passed on to consumers on Wednesday, September 16.
The Committee chaired by Palawan Rep. Jose C. Alvarez has invited resource persons from the Department of Energy, National Electrification Administration, Energy Regulatory Commission, National Power Corporation, National Transmission Corporation, National Grid Corporation of the Philippines, Philippine Electricity Market Corporation, and the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines, a press release from the office of Rep. Javier Miguel Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3rd District) said Sunday, Sept. 13.
The agencies are expected to account for the region’s recurring yellow and red alerts and to detail the ancillary services actually procured and billed to electricity consumers.
Benitez filed House Resolution 1430 directing the Committee to investigate the contracting, procurement, and financial settlement of power reserves across the Visayas, flagging a P 1.04 per kilowatt-hour ancillary reserve fee charged to retail consumers despite the grid’s repeated red alerts.
At issue is why consumers continue to shoulder fees for spinning and contingency reserves meant to guarantee grid stability even as some areas log up to nine hours of rotational brownouts, the press release said.
Lawmakers are seeking a full accounting of how the reserves were contracted, which firms were paid, and why those reserves have not reliably deployed during forced outages. *
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