Just because an item is in your ZAMSURECO-I Bill, doesn't mean it goes to ZAMSURECO-I. The fact is, only 19% of your total bill payment goes to ZAMSURECO-I. The rest covers pass-through charges which ZAMSURECO-I collects behalf of power suppliers (NPC-GENCO), the National Transmission Company, the government and other entities involved in bringing electricity into your home. This way, you only have one bill to pay. ZAMSURECO-I ensures that your payment gets to these groups, and power gets to you.
Q. What is unbundling?
Unbundling is simply the identification of the individual charges, whether generation charges or transmission charges or government charges.
Q. Is unbundling favorable for me?
Yes it is. Imagine having NAPOCOR, the Government and other companies coming to your door and asking for payment individually. ZAMSURECO-I makes billing simple. You just pay one bill for everything.
Q. When did this start?
Unbundling was initiated in April 2004 as prescribed by the Energy Regulatory Commission, and was implemented immediately, beginning with June 2003 billing cycle
Unbundling the bill
The longer, itemized bill you see these days complete with all these details or pass through charges is called the "unbundled" bill. Created in compliance with Section 36 of Republic Act 9136, this itemizing of your bill according to cost and function makes it easy to see exactly who you are paying and what you are paying for.
Pass Through Charges
These are the parts of the bill that are non-ZAMSURECO-I in nature. instead, they go straight to government, power suppliers and other service providers.
Generation Charge
Paid to power suppliers such as the National Power Corporation (NPC), for the electricity they generate, which ZAMSURECO-I distributes.
Transmission Charge
Paid to The National Transmission Company or TransCo, this fee is for delivery of electricity from generators, normally in remote areas or provinces to ZAMSURECO-I's distribution system.
System Loss Charge
Set at a maximum of 14% in accordance with Republic Act 7832, this is allowed for the recovery of lost power.
Franchise Tax
Required by government, 2% of this amount goes to the national government as local national franchise tax, while a range of 0.05% to0.75% of the gross is paid to local government units.
Universal Charge
This is remitted to the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM), a company owned and controlled by government, created by Republic Act 9136. Part of this is in your bill as missionary electrification and environmental charges.
Lifeline Subsidy
Amounting to P 0.0520 per kWh, this is paid by all residential customers consuming 26 kWh and up, and all over types of customers and used to fund the Lifeline Discount.
Lifeline Discount
The EPIRA (Section 73) provides that residential customers consuming less than 100 kWh in a given month will enjoy a Lifeline Discount on generation, transmission, distribution, supply, metering and system loss charges at these percentages:
Using 20 kWh and below will get 40% discount
Using 71 to 100 kWh will get a 20% discount
Using 21 kWh will get 30% discount
Using 22 kWh will get 25% discount
Using 23 kWh will get 15% discount
Using 24 kWh will get 10% discount
Using 25 kWh will get 5% discount
Interclass Subsidy
The unbundled rates also identify subsidies being enjoyed or provided by the various customer categories of ZAMSURECO-I. All residential customers will enjoy a subsidy of P0.7130 per kWh consumed. This subsidy will be funded by a charge to be paid by commercial and industrial establishments.
ZAMSURECO-I Charges
Distribution Charge
This pays the cost of building, operating and maintaining the distribution system of ZAMSURCO-I, which brings power from high-voltage transmission grids, to commercial and industrial establishments, to residential end-users.
Metering Charge
This includes the cost of reading, and operating and maintaining power metering facilities.
Supply Charge
This includes the cost of rendering service to customers, such as billing, collection, customer assistance and associated services.
