PH Solar & Electricity News — Week of August 3, 2026
TL;DR
The ERC let Meralco recover ₱8.71 billion in under-collected pass-through charges over 36 months while a separate ₱9.5-billion refund runs for six months, TransCo asked to raise the FIT-All for 2027, the Visayas grid went on yellow alert, and AboitizPower started a 239-MWp solar plant with battery storage in Negros Occidental.
Rates
ERC clears Meralco to collect ₱8.71 billion in under-recovered pass-through charges
The ERC cleared Meralco to recover about ₱8.71 billion in pass-through costs it under-collected, spread over 36 months. Generation is the bulk at ₱7.3 billion, or ₱0.0701 per kWh. The rest is ₱615.93 million transmission, ₱595.05 million system loss, and ₱228.87 million real property tax. Separately, Meralco still owes a ₱0.3448 per kWh refund over six months, worth ₱9.5 billion.
What this means
Two opposite adjustments land on the same bill. A ₱0.3448 per kWh refund for six months, alongside small add-ons running three years. Neither changes the picture much. The all-in Meralco residential rate is still roughly ₱14-15 per kWh, and that rate is why payback on a high-bill Meralco home tends to land nearer three to four years than seven.
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Rates
TransCo asks the ERC to raise the FIT-All charge for 2027
TransCo filed with the ERC to raise the Feed-in Tariff Allowance for 2027 to ₱0.2154 per kWh, up from ₱0.2011 this year. Every on-grid customer pays it, and the money goes to renewable plants that qualify for the feed-in tariff, which locks in a fixed rate per kWh for 20 years. TransCo says the number covers projected FIT differentials, working capital, and admin costs.
What this means
This is a line on your bill, not income for your roof. The Philippine feed-in tariff pays utility-scale plants, and home rooftop solar has never qualified for it. What a homeowner gets instead is net metering, which credits exported surplus at generation cost of roughly ₱5-7 per kWh. If an installer pitches you a feed-in tariff for your house, treat the rest of the pitch carefully.
Grid
Visayas grid on yellow alert Monday evening as coal units stay offline
More large coal plants are out of service in the Visayas, so NGCP held the grid under a yellow alert for three hours on Monday, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. As of 8 a.m. the grid had 2,478 MW available against peak demand of 2,327 MW. A yellow alert is not an outage by itself. It flags a reserve margin thin enough that losing one more plant without warning could cut service.
What this means
If brownouts are your reason for looking at solar, read the fine print first. A standard grid-tied system shuts down the moment the grid does, because of anti-islanding protection. It gives you nothing usable during an outage. Keeping a fridge, a fan, and a router going means a battery in a hybrid setup, or a separate power station.
Policy
DOE says the 10,000-MW capacity target will be met by 2028
Energy Secretary Sharon Garin said the sector will add 4,100 MW this year. The DOE puts more than 6,000 MW of the 10,000-MW target in the next two years. Energy Undersecretary Mario Marasigan counted 45 projects finished at over 1,900 MW, with 31 more adding about 1,800 MW by year-end. The DOE wants renewables at 35 percent of the generation mix by 2030, from 25 percent now.
What this means
Capacity targets are about supply security, not price. Nothing here says your rate goes down, and the bulk of it runs to 2028. If you have been holding off on solar until grid power gets cheaper, this week hands you no reason to keep waiting. Work it out against your own bill instead.
Market
AboitizPower starts a 239-MWp solar plant with battery storage in Negros
Aboitiz Renewables began work in late July on the Luna Solar Power Plant in Barangay Luna, Cadiz City, Negros Occidental. It is rated 239 MWp and pairs with a 65-MW battery energy storage system, its first pairing of the two on Negros Island. Target is 2028. It would be bigger than the existing 173-MWp Calatrava and 59-MWp SacaSun plants, and lifts Aboitiz solar in Negros Occidental to 471 MWp.
What this means
A solar farm this size does not reach your bill as a discount. It sells into the grid. Two things are worth taking from it. The relief date is 2028, not this year. And even a developer at this scale is buying storage, because solar on its own does not cover the evening peak. The same logic decides whether a home system needs a battery.
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