The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) aims to temporarily remove some charges from consumers’ electricity bills starting December.
This is said to be in preparation for the looming increase in electricity bills in the coming months due to the end of Meralco bill refunds.
According to ERC Chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta, the first thing that can be suspended is the feed-in-tariff allowance which is equivalent to about P0.4 per kilowatt hour.
The transmission charge, which is currently at P0.82 per kilowatt hour for Meralco customers, can also be lowered.
Because one of the 4 Meralco bill refunds is set to expire in December while two others will expire in January and February 2023.
Meanwhile, Alternergy and Shell joined forces for the development of offshore wind power or wind turbines to be placed in the middle of the sea.
The Philippines is used to wind power on land because wind farms in the country are already in operation, but it is a different technology if it is placed on the land.
“Hahanapin namin ‘yong likas ng hangin sa dagat para makapalit ng mahal na coal at langis na binibili natin sa ibang bansa,” explained Alternergy Chairman Vince Perez.
ERC targets to temporarily reduce electricity bill charges
The two companies assured that the project would not harm the environment and obstruct the sea.
They target to start construction after five years.
The estimated cost of a wind turbine tower that can produce 15 megawatts of electricity is over P4 billion.
As of 2020, the Department of Energy estimates that 443 MW of wind power would be operational in the Philippines, representing around 1.6% of the country’s total capacity for renewable and nonrenewable energy sources combined.
Onshore (land-based) wind farms will make up all wind farms in the Philippines as of 2021. The Philippines Offshore Wind Roadmap, which was published on April 20, 2022 by the Department of Energy and the World Bank Group, indicates that the nation has a technical offshore wind potential of 178GW.
Offshore (water-based) wind farms, in contrast to onshore wind farms, are still in the early stages of development and currently account for only 0.3% of all wind power installations worldwide, or 121.4MW. Offshore wind farms, however, have a huge potential because they are located in oceans and have a larger coverage area.
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