THE Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) lifted the suspension on the collection of the Feed-in Tariff Allowance (FIT-All) starting the billing month of February 2024 after more than a year of suspending the collection of the FIT-All to provide relief to Filipino consumers. 

The suspension, as adopted in the ERC Resolution No. 01, Series of 2024 issued on January 16 2024, was decided upon by the Commission due to the looming deficit in the projected FIT-All Fund.

It may be recalled that, more than a year ago, the ERC ordered the temporary suspension in the collection in December 2022 until January 2024 given the healthy state of the FIT-All Fund and to alleviate the burden of Filipinos amid the rising costs of electricity in 2022.

As the Commission reevaluated the balance of the FIT-All Fund as of 05 January 2024, inclusive of the Cost Recovery Revenue (CRR) collections in November 2023, the ERC found that the projected FIT-All Fund would be in deficit in the February 2024 customer monthly billing. 

In view of this, the Commission resolved to approve and adopt the lifting of the suspension and to resume the collection of the FIT-All charges. 

In August 2022, the Commission approved the implementation of the FIT-All rate at PhP0.0364/kWh. However, in November of the same year, the ERC directed collection agents to temporarily suspend the collection of FIT-All for a period of three (3) months from December 2022 until February 2023 billing months. 

Considering the rising level of inflation and cost of living affecting millions of Filipino households, the Commission reevaluated the FIT-All Fund balance and determined its healthy status, which can sufficiently cover the FIT-All payment requirements. 

Thus, in February 2023, the Commission extended the temporary suspension of the FIT-All collection for a period of six (6) months, starting March 2023 until August 2023 billing, through ERC Resolution No. 02, Series of 2023. After this, the Commission further extended the temporary suspension in the collection of the FIT-All through Resolution No. 11, Series of 2023. 

The FIT-All is a uniform charge imposed on all on-grid electricity consumers, and is a component of the electricity bill, that ensures the development and promotion of renewable energy (RE) in the country.