CONSUMERS should expect higher electricity rates next month after the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) decided to resume feed-in tariff allowance (FIT-All) collections.

"In a resolution issued on January 16, 2024, the commission resolved to lift the suspension on the collection of the 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 ERC said on Thursday.

The move was prompted by a "looming deficit" in the FIT-All Fund that is used for the promotion and development of renewable energy in the country, it added.

The current FIT-All rate of P0.0364 per kilowatt-hour, which is imposed on all electricity consumers, was approved in August 2022.

Surging inflation said to be due to high power rates prompted the regulator to order a halt to collections from December 2022 to February 2023. This was extended to August and then kept in effect "indefinitely."

"As the commission reevaluated the balance of the FIT-All Fund as of January 5, 2024, inclusive of the Cost Recovery Revenue collections in November 2023, the ERC found that the projected FIT-All Fund would be in deficit in the February 2024 customer monthly billing," the regulator said.

"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," it added.