Manila: The effective transmission rate for December slipped to PHP1.35 per kilowatt hour (kWh) from last month's PHP1.51/kWh, driven by changes in consumption, officials of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) said Wednesday.

According to Philippines News Agency, Julius Ryan Datingaling, NGCP Assistant Vice President and head of the Revenue Management Development, stated that the rate adjustment in the Luzon grid is a decrease of PHP0.22/kWh due to an increase in energy consumption. In contrast, the Visayas grid experienced a PHP0.22/kWh increase in rate due to a decrease in energy consumption, while the Mindanao grid saw a PHP0.4/kWh increase because of a rise in the ancillary service (AS) rate, based on the electricity purchased for capacity support and priced per megawatt.

In the same briefing, NGCP spokesperson Cynthia Alabanza clarified that the NGCP does not benefit from these rate movements as its collections are capped, and these rates depend on the distribution utilities. She emphasized that transmission rates are influenced by consumption rather than the rate of service. Alabanza highlighted the need to unbundle these rates for transparency, noting that ancillary services have contributed to the movement in prices over the last year. She explained that these are pass-through costs and do not go to NGCP, indicating that rate upticks are not solely attributed to the company.

Meanwhile, Alabanza reported that transmission facilities destroyed during recent calamities have been fully restored. She stated that NGCP quickly addresses such situations by setting up bypass lines using emergency restoration systems (ERS). These prefabricated tower parts can be easily configured by linemen without the need for heavy equipment, although helicopters are used in remote areas. This process enables NGCP to promptly restore transmission services while working on permanent restoration solutions.