Cheaper rates mat come soon for Baguio and Benguet as the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) issued the Certificate of Compliance (COC) for the mini hydro power plant of the Benguet Electric Cooperative (BENECO) at Man-asok, Buguias.
BENECO general manager Melchor Licoben said. “Man-asok finally being awarded its COC is a big leap in attaining BENECO’s vision on going renewable. This final approval from the DOE means that the electricity produced by the Man-asok mini-hydro will be guaranteed to be paid by the government’s Feed in Tariff Allocation (FIT-ALL) rate.”
Licoben said that the COC is a significant achievement that proved the ability of the electric cooperative to erect its own power plant. “This means that BENECO can develop bigger renewable power generation projects that can provide cheaper power rates for our member-consumer-owners,” he said. BENECO’s Man-asok mini-hydro power plant has a capacity of 3.24 megawatt (MW). The FIT-ALL rate assures electric cooperatives that their generated power from renewable energy will be paid once the power is brought into the grid.
Effective November 25, 2024, the COC now gives permission to fully operate commercially as the electric cooperative hurdled the last major regulatory requirement for operating renewable energy projects. The Department of Energy (DOE) awarded BENECO’s eligibility for FIT in the last quarter of 2022, a few months after BENECO submitted its COC application on April 28, 2022. Prior to the issuance of the COC, the DOE and ERC validated and conducted virtual site-inspection of the plant’s compliance with regulatory requirements such as the Phil Grid Code.
Artemio Bacoco, BENECO’s power generation and operations department manager, said the FIT rate is P5.98 per kilowatt hour (kWh) with the possibility that it could increase to P6.00/kWh. “This is significantly higher compared to the buying price at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM),” he said. The WESM is the country’s spot market for power supply. Bacoco said that the WESM buying rate for Man-asok for its September to October 2024 generated power was about P3.8/kWh while for October to November, the WESM buying price was about P4.219/kWh.
“The COC signals that we can now operate the Man-asok generation facility officially and that the plant will be entitled to all rights and privileges as a renewable energy facility, of course, this would mean that BENECO will also be accountable for all its obligations in running the plant,” Bacoco said.
Bacoco enumerated the other effects of the COC — tax exemptions on carbon credits, special tax rates on equipment and machineries, income tax holidays for seven years under the Board of Investments (BOI), and duty-free importation of RE machineries, equipment and materials for ten years. BENECO’s current power supplier is Limay Power Inc., a subsidiary of San MiguelPower Corp. LPI runs a coal fired power plant in Bataan.
The production in Man-asok will help reduce the electric cooperative’s power supply from LPI. The generation component of the monthly electric bill eats up 60% to 65% of the entire amount paid by consumers.
An electric cooperative that can produce power using renewable energy can lessen the dependence on such coal fired power plants. The ERC in November 2023 directed the electric cooperative to refile its COC application pursuant to the revised COC rules. By Laarni S. Ilagan
