(PERIOD COVERING MAY 2014 TO OCTOBER 2014)
I. INTRODUCTION
Republic Act No. 9136 otherwise known as Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) of 2001 or EPIRA has reached its thirteenth (13th) year of implementation in June 2014. There were significant achievements but the envisioned end result of achieving an efficient electric power industry that ensures energy supply security at reasonable cost remains to be a great challenge. The government has to take necessary actions to balance the interests of the different industry participants and stakeholders.
The 25th Status Report on the EPIRA implementation covering the period of May 2014 to October 2014 highlights the following:
- Activities completed for the privatization of remaining National Power Corporation’s (NPC) generating assets and Independent Power Producers (NPC-IPP) contracts with the bidding for Power Barges (PBs) 101, 102, 103 and 104, Naga Power Plant Complex (NPPC), and transfer of contract under Unified Leyte Geothermal Power Plant (ULGPP) to an Independent Power Producer Administrator (IPPA);
- Report on National Grid Corporation of the Philippines’ (NGCP) compliance to the Concession Agreement with the submission of summary of findings and recommendations by the Technical, Regulatory, Financial, Legal Assessment Team (TRFLAT) in their report on the assessment of NGCP’s compliance with the provisions of the CA for CY 2012 to the Presidents of National Transmission Corporation (TransCo) and Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM);
- Continuing turn-over to qualified Distribution Utilities (DU) of the sub-transmission assets (STAs) of the TransCo which has signed one hundred nine (109) sale contracts with seventy nine (79) DUs/Electric Cooperatives (ECs)/consortia amounting to about PhP5.9 billion;
- Updates on electricity rates to include average electricity rates such as the summary of MERALCO residential unbundled power rates and list of ERC Decisions on DU's Rate Applications, updates on universal charge, loan condonation, lifeline rates and mandatory rate reduction;
- Updates on wholesale electricity spot market (WESM) operations and governance to include operational higlights on price, supply demand, and governance aspects;
- Updates on Interim Mindanao Electricity Market (IMEM) including the promulgation of DOE Department Circular DC2014-05-0010 entitled “Amending the Interim Mindanao Electricity Market Rules and Providing for Transitory Arrangements”;
- Monitoring compliance to installed capacity limitation under Section 45 of the EPIRA highlighting the report on computation of the market share of generators which has been based on the recent developments such as the privatization of the Angat Hydro Electric Power Plant (AHEPP) and Naga Land-Based Gas Turbine (NLBGT);
- Updates on the implementation of retail competition and open access (RCOA) which highlights the summary of RCOA registration and retail market transaction status;
- Power supply-demand situation/outlook including reports on the significant Incidents in the power system, outages for 2014, and various initiatives of the Department of Energy (DOE) being undertaken in compliance with Section 71 of the EPIRA; and
- Electrification status to include the 99.98% achievement of the total potential barangay nationwide under the establishment of Expanded Rural Electrification Program (ER Program).