By Alena Mae S. Flores

State-owned National Power Corp. plans to file a new petition this week to increase basic rate nearly a month after the Energy Regulatory Commission rejected an earlier request to raise tariff by P0.3685 per kilowatt-hour.

Napocor president Froilan Tampinco said the power company was hoping that the regulator would approve the revised petition to improve its finances further.

Napocor reported an unprecedented net income of P136.07 billion in 2007 from around P90 billion in 2006 due to foreign exchange gains.

Tampinco said Napocor expected a challenging year in 2009 due to the global economic crisis.

?The ERC did not say that we are not allowed [to increase rates]. There are just delays in... a possible rate adjustment [and] we are going to re-file,? Tampinco added.

The commission said in a ruling last month that Napocor failed to justify the rate increase.

The regulator said it gave ?no probative value? to Napocor?s submissions after the power firm used base year 2002 to 2004, which were not ?reflective? of its current costs.

Napocor last raised its basic rate in September 2004.

?Whether or not Napocor is not entitled to any increase ultimately depends on what evidence it will submit to the ERC. If it submits none that can be given any probative value, as what it did in this case, then the dismissal of its application is a foregone conclusion,? ERC chairman Zenaida Ducut said earlier.

Tampinco said Napocor would use 2007 as its base year for the revised petition.

?Whatever tariff is going to be imposed by the ERC is something that is reflective or is as close to our actual generation cost,? the Napocor official said.