The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) on Monday clarified that Negros Electric and Power Corp. (NEPC) was operating well within its allowable system losses cap after being wrongly identified as noncompliant with the cap for private distribution utilities (DUs).
In a statement, the ERC acknowledged that Negros Power was only recently granted its franchise in 2024 after taking over the distribution system previously owned and operated by the rural electric cooperative which had an applicable cap of 8.5 percent for system losses.
This was in line with Negros Power’s legislative franchise under Republic Act No. 12011, which granted it a transition period of five years from the grant of its certificate of public convenience and necessity within which NEPC must achieve the 5.5% cap for private utilities, the ERC added.
“Against this interim cap, NEPC’s reported 2025 feeder loss of 7.5 percent is within, not in excess of, its
applicable cap,” the commission said.
This after the ERC made a presentation during last week’s Senate committee on energy hearing which listed Negros Power among the DUs that exceeded their feeder loss cap in 2025 with a feeder loss of 7.5 percent.
The hearing was in relation to measures to scrap the system losses charge in monthly electric bills in line with President Marcos Jr.’s directive to Congress during his fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July.
System loss refer to electricity generated but lost before it reaches consumers, with the cost currently recovered through a charge on power bills.
The ERC sets an allowable cap of 5.5 percent for private DUs and between 8.25 percent and 12 percent for rural electric cooperatives.*
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