Transmission rates down in May 2025 electric bills

CONSUMERS can expect lower transmission rates this May 2025, following a significant reduction in both transmission wheeling rates and Ancillary Services (AS) rates for the April 2025 billing period, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NCGP) announced.

Overall equivalent average transmission rates for the April 2025 billing period dropped by 28.45 percent to P1.0904 per kilowatt hour (kWh), from March’s P1.5240/kWh.

The decrease was driven by reductions in both transmission wheeling rates and Ancillary Services (AS) rates.

Transmission wheeling rates are what NGCP charges for its primary service of delivering power, while AS rates pertain to the pass-through costs for power supplied by AS providers to stabilize the grid during power supply-demand imbalance.

AS charges are remitted directly to generating companies with bilateral contracts with NGCP, and to the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) for the AS sourced from the Reserve Market.

NGCP’s transmission wheeling rates went down by 16.35 percent, from P0.5505/kWh in the March 2025 billing period to P0.4605/kWh in the April 2025 billing period.

“For the May 2025 electric bill of the end consumers, NGCP charges only 46 centavos per kWh for the delivery of its services,” NGCP explained, adding that AS still accounts for the bulk of transmission charges.

Average AS rates for the April 2025 billing period decreased by 36.07 percent to P0.5175/kWh, compared to P0.8094/kWh in the March 2025 billing period.

The AS cost for Visayas for the April 2025 billing period includes the 4th tranche of the settlement of the remaining 70 percent AS from the Reserve Market during the March 2024 billing period whose recovery was deferred by the ERC.

Ancillary Services (AS) charges pertain to the cost for AS sourced from the Reserve Market and from AS providers with bilateral contracts with NGCP.

NGCP does not earn from AS and does not benefit from the movement in prices. (PR)