The feed-in-tariff (FiT) for various renewable energy (RE) technologies as propounded by project proponents will be steep price ranges of P7 to P25 per kilowatt hour (kWh), which will then be translated into RE charge (REC) that will be passed on via the consumers’ electricity bills.

Project sponsors justified that since all end-users will be made to absorb costs of RE’s incursion into the country’s energy mix, the resulting charge will be minimized. The come-on line being advocated by policymakers would be to consider the FiT as the cost that energy end-users will have to share in preserving the environment.

It was presented at the Philippines Clean Energy Investor Forum at the Edsa Shangri-La Hotel that the lower ranges of feed-in-tariff for technologies like biomass, waste-to-energy facilities as well as run-of-river hydros will be at P7 to P9 per kWh.

In several other discussions, including at public hearings at the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), wind farm facilities which appear to be the dominant technology being developed, were proposed to have a FiT of P12 to P15 per kWh; while solar power will have the highest FiT of up to P25 per kWh.

It has been pointed out that the RE charges might be higher in the initial years, but this will dwindle in due time as RE project penetration increases via the enforcement of renewable portfolio standards (RPS) and as technologies improve.

System operator National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) is the entity that will calibrate the FiT and will eventually apply to the ERC for the RE charge that will be billed to end-users. This takes the form of a universal charge and will be reflected as separate item in the electricity bills.

The ERC’s final approval of the FiT is one of the most awaited developments by project developers before they will proceed with implementation of their proposed ventures. Lenders are similarly looking at these RE policy underpinnings in assessing financeability of projects.

In the rules being crafted by the regulator, it was stipulated that “all electricity consumers shall share in the cost of the FITs through a one-part surcharge in (PhP/kWh) to be referred to as REC (renewable energy charge).”