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PETITION TO INTERVENE AGAINST THE NPC INCREASE IN MISSIONARY CHARGES

Republic of the Philippines
ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION
San Miguel Avenue, Pasig City
Emails: records@erc.gov.ph
records.erc.gov.ph@gmail.com

IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION
FOR THE APPROVAL OF THE
AVAILMENT FROM THE UNIVERSAL
CHARGE FOR MISSIONARY
ELECTRIFICATION(UCME) FOR CY 2021
WITH PRAYER FOR THE ISSUANCE OF
PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY
ERC CASE NO. 2020-011 RC

NATIONAL POWER CORPORATION,
Petitioner,

ATTY. VICTORIO MARIO A. DIMAGIBA AND
LABAN KONSYUMER INC.
OPPOSITORS/
INTERVENORS

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

PETITION FOR INTERVENTION WITH PRE TRIAL BRIEF

The Oppositors /Intervenors respectfully submit the following

Petition for Intervention with Pre Trial Brief, and pleads as follows:

  1. That Atty. Victorio Mario Av. Dimagiba, is of legal age, Filipino, married and with residence at No. 5, Elgin Street, Brgy . Fairview, Quezon City , 1118 where he may be served with notices , orders and other pleadings by the Commission and Parties in this case.
  2. That Laban Konsyumer Inc. ( LKI ) is a corporation registered under the laws of the Philippines and with principal office at No. 5, Elgin Street, Brgy . Fairview , Quezon City , 1118 where it may served with notices, orders, and other pleadings by the Commission and Parties in this case.

LKI is a registered consumer organization by the Department of Trade and Industry, and a full term member of the Consumers International.

  1. That the Commission should evaluate the above Petition of the National Power Corporation thoroughly and with impartiality , and after due hearing , Dismiss the Petition, stop and abandon the collection of UCME, as without merit and basis.
  2. The Oppositors /Intervenors believe that it is important that Commission look into the petition of NPC’s in a more concrete way to reduce the UC-ME and for NPC to be required to consider the cheaper fuel cost in its estimates. The current UC-ME was set in 2015, when fuel prices were much higher than today. Thus, costs incurred have already been recovered under the existing rate.
  3. The Missionary Electrification component of the Universal Charge is collected from end users in the main grid to subsidize electricity in areas not connected to the transmission system.
  4. Since 2003, the UCME has increased by around 318%, from Php 0.0373 per kWh to Php 0.1561 per kWh, and the latter set in 2015.
  5. The total payments to NPC cover cost of electricity from oil fired plants in those areas, which account for about 94% of installed capacity ( DOE list of existing power plants as of December 31, 2019).
  6. World oil crude prices have actually gone down since 2015 by about 23 % from an average of US $ 52 for Brent crude to US $ 40 as of July 2020 ( US Energy Information Administration )

$/Bbl Brent Spot
2015 52.32
2016 43.64
2017 54.13
2018 71.34
2019 64.30
as of Jul 2020 40.37

  1. For Dubai crude , in 2015 average amount is US $ 50.94 and US$ 41.21 in July 2020, or a reduction of 19.1 % from 2015 ( Opec.org ).
  2. On the other hand, the Peso to US Dollar had depreciated by an average of 10.7% for the same period of 2015 to 2020 (bsp.gov.ph ).
  3. Since fuel prices declined faster than the Peso depreciation, NPC fuel prices should still be almost 10% lower this 2020 versus in 2015.
  4. Thus , NPC is collecting ME in excess of the least cost , and upon computation, the Commission should order a refund of over recovery of UCME. STIPULATION OF FACTS
  5. Paragraphs 5 to 11 above . ISSUES
  6. Other than the consumers , who can subsidize UCME? 15 . Should UCME be reduced, stop and abandon ?
  7. . If Paragraphs 5 to 11 above are Denied by the Petitioner, then we adopt all of paragraphs 5 to 11 as additional Issues of the Petition . PRAYER

WHEREFORE, PREMISES CONSIDERED, WE PRAY THAT THE COMMISSION ACCEPTS OUR PETITION FOR INTERVENTION WITH PRE TRIAL BRIEF, REFUND THE OVERRECOVERY OF UCME COLLECTED FROM ALL CONSUMERS AND DISMISS, STOP AND ABANDON THE COLLECTION OF THE UCME AS WITHOUT MERIT AND BASIS.

Quezon City for Pasig City, September 16, 2020.

                   ATTY. VICTORIO MARIO A. DIMAGIBA,AB, LLB,LLM
                                 OPPOSITOR/INTERVENOR
                                                   Roll of Attorneys No. 24285
No. 5, Elgin Street, Brgy. Fairview, Quezon City, 1118
                                          PTR No. 9333466, Jan. 6, 202
                                          IBP No. AR 40572950, Jan. 6, 2020
                                         MCLE VI- 0024985, valid till April 14, 2022
                                         Email: labankonsyumer@gmail.com
                                                    dmagiba@pldtdsl.net

cc: National Power Corporation
Office of the General Counsel
Atty. Bienvenido L. Mabulac II , et al
blmabulac@napocor.gov.ph

  Office of the Solicitor General
  docket@osg.gov.ph

 Senate Committee on Energy
senateenergycommittee@gmail.com  

 House of Representatives Committee on Energy
Committee.energy@house.gov.ph

  Legal Service, Energy Regulatory Commission
legal.erc.gov.ph@gmail.com

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