The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is due to
promulgate a tariff system that shall serve as benchmark for the installation
of solar home systems (SHS) to interested customers by servicing electric
cooperatives.
Prior to Rules promulgation, the regulatory body
announced that it will be undertaking public consultations in specified venues
in Manila , Cebu and Davao Cebu leg
will be this July 24. The Davao consultation is
slated August; while the process culminates in Manila
The ‘benchmark SHS tariff’ to be prescribed shall
refer to a regulated tariff that must be approved by the ERC for the supply of
electricity by an eligible electric cooperative (EC) via the deployment of
solar home systems.
The ERC noted that such tariff-setting shall be in
support of the “SHS mainstreaming program for rural electrification” that is
being implemented by the Department of Energy.
According to the ERC, the SHS benchmark tariff “shall
be the approximation of the operating cost an EC would incur in providing
electricity service to all SHS member-consumers,” and must also factor in “the
cost of the replacement of components as necessary, and covering both direct
and indirect overhead costs.”
The draft ERC Rules similarly provided that “the
higher costs of servicing SHS for more remote and difficult-to-reach areas
shall be considered in an incremental cost adjustment that will apply to SHS in
such areas.”
The regulatory body added that such adjustment “will
be common across all ECs serving customers in the same defined zones,” — as the
household consumers being target of the SHS deployment program will be grouped
into cost zones.
As laid down, cost zones “shall capture the range of
areas in which the ECs shall operate.” The plan is to segregate the areas into
three cost zones that shall be measured by distance from the nearest office of
a servicing electric cooperative.
As per policy, the initial capital cost for the SHS
“shall be covered by a subsidy” as anchored on the rules crafted by the DOE on
solar technology deployment underpinning the government’s electrification
program.
Meanwhile, for those classified as non-eligible ECs,
installation of SHS system to a customer may also be done – but enforcing the
benchmark SHS tariff plus premium, as may be “determined by negotiation between
the SHS customer and the EC.”
Under this, it was noted that “an SHS customer may
request an EC to provide supply through SHS of larger capacity than the
eligible SHS.” The cost the customer pays may cover additional capital and
replacement costs for larger capacity systems.
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