The Philippines‘ Department of Energy (DOE) hosted a meeting last week aimed at accelerating the processing of net metering applications.

The meeting took place between DOE, the country’s Energy Regulatory Commission, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the National Electrification Administration of the Philippines, and Meralco, Manila’s only electric power distributor.

The agencies aim to break bottlenecks in the current net metering application process. In some areas of the Philippines, program applicants are asked to submit as many as 15 documentary requirements, leading to lengthy processing times before energization. Local government units are also required to issue Certificates of Final Electrical Inspection and Electrical Permits, which can contribute to processing delays.

According to a statement published by the Philippines Information Agency, meeting attendees committed to enforcing existing policies with stricter timelines at each stage of the application process, while also introducing simplified and standardized forms and ensuring that eligibility requirements remain relevant, necessary and straightforward.

Meralco also pledged to streamline its net metering process through digitization and digitalization efforts, the accreditation of PV installers and the standardization of solar equipment.

The meeting followed a recent State of the Nation Address from President of the Philippines, Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., in which he called for red tape to be cut to offer immediate relief to electricity consumers.

“Every day we delay is another day Filipino consumers lose the chance to reduce their electricity bills and earn from their own clean energy production,” commented Sharon S. Garin, the country's energy secretary. “The president has made it clear: the net metering program must work for the people, not against them.”

The Philippines’ net metering program covers installations up to 100 kW. Any unused electricity is automatically exported to the distribution utility, which provides a peso credit deducted from the prosumer’s electricity bill.

According to the most recent government figures, there were 17,175 electricity end-users registered under the program as of May 2025 with an aggregate installed capacity of 157 MW. In February, net metering capacity in the Philippines stood at 141 MW.

In July, a new solar mapping tool estimated the Philippines’ rooftop solar capacity in excess of 1.8 GW.