WHERE DOES YOUR MONTHLY PAYMENT GO? (UNDERSTANDING YOUR SORECO II BILL)
While there seem to be endless charges that appear on SORECO II Statement of Account, not everything therein goes actually to SORECO II. Only 15% of the bill goes to SORECO II. SORECO II is just mandated to gather these charges and serve as a collecting agent to simplify the process and remit said collections to corresponding entities connected in the power supply chain. Here is the guide to help you better understand what do these charges mean and where do they go.
GENERATION CHARGE (38%): Refers to the charge associated with the purchase of power from suppliers. This charge goes to the generation companies that supply the power. For SORECO II, the suppliers are the GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant and the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market.
SYSTEM LOSS CHARGE (6%): Refers to the cost-recovery of power that is lost due to technical and non-technical system losses. Effective May 2018 based on ERC Resolution No. 20, Series of 2017, only 12% of the System Loss will be recovered by SORECO II.
TRANSMISSION CHARGE (10%): This charge is paid to the NGCP for transporting power from generation companies to SORECO II substationsDISTRIBUTION, SUPPLY and
METERING (DSM) CHARGE (15%): This charge component goes to SORECO II which comprises 15% of the power bill for rendering service, maintaining, and delivering electrical power supply to the member-consumer-owner.
REINVESTMENT FUND FOR SUSTAINABLE CAPEX (RFSC) (5%): RFSC is intended to fund the rehabilitation and upgrading of the existing network and non-network assets of the coops.
SUBSIDIES (LIFELINE and SENIOR CITIZEN SUBSIDY)Lifeline Subsidy Rate are charge to non-lifeline customers to cover the lifeline discount provided to marginalized/low-income end-users, while, the Senior Citizen Subsidy Rate is charged to non-senior citizen-consumers to subsidize the 5% discount given to the registered senior citizen whose monthly consumption does not exceed 100kWh.
OTHER CHARGES (UNIVERSAL CHARGES, FIT-ALL, GRAM, ICERA, DWS, TAFPPCA, and TAFxA) (14%): SORECO II is mere collecting agent of these Charges and remits the same to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines and to the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) Corporation as ordered by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
TAXES (12%): Value-Added Tax on Generation, Transmission, DSM and Other Charges are collected by SORECO II and remitted to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).