Power transmission cost eased in November
Electricity transmission-related charges declined in the November 2025 billing period, driven mainly by lower ancillary services (AS) costs, data presented by the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) showed.
End-consumers can expect to see this reflected in their December bills.
In a briefing on Wednesday, NGCP said its effective transmission rate slipped to P0.5894 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in November from P0.5953 per kWh in October.
A steeper month-on-month decline was seen in AS charges, which cover support services that keep the power grid stable.
These charges fell to P0.6217 per kWh from P0.7542 per kWh, reflecting lower costs for reserve power used to balance the system.
Taken together, total transmission-related charges—including transmission, AS and other pass-through charges—declined to P1.3547 per kWh in November from P1.5105 per kWh in October.
Other charges, which include the universal charge, Feed-In Tariff Allowance (FIT-All) and value-added tax on transmission and AS, also edged down to P0.1436 per kWh from P0.1610 per kWh.
NGCP clarified that FIT-All is charged only to customers directly connected to the transmission grid and not to consumers served by distribution utilities or electric cooperatives.
The lower charges are expected to provide some relief to electricity consumers, although these form only one component of overall power bills, which also include generation and distribution charges.
However, NGCP’s data showed divergent trends across the major grids.
In Luzon, total transmission-related charges dropped by P0.2197 per kWh or 15.27 percent as both transmission rates and AS charges fell sharply.
Consumers in Mindanao also saw lower overall charges, with total rates easing by P0.0441 per kWh, or 3.21 percent, despite increases in AS and other charges.
The drop was largely due to a decrease of P0.004 per kWh in effective transmission rates.
The Visayas grid, meanwhile, posted higher transmission-related charges for the November billing period.
NGCP said total rates in the Visayas rose by P0.0441 per kWh.
