Friday, October 17, 2014

Meralco signs up three new firms for ILP

Business World Online
Posted on October 17, 2014 07:20:00 PM

MORE FIRMS have signed up under Manila Electric Co.’s (Meralco) interruptible load program (ILP) as part of efforts to address the looming shortage next year.

In its latest ILP Watch, Meralco said that a total of 155 MW are already enrolled under its ILP -- a measure that encourages consumers to run their own generating sets to ease power demand in exchange for compensation.

Joining to the roster of participants are GMA Network, Inc.; Fort Bonifacio Development Corp.; and Trafalgar Plaza Condominium Corp.

The total capacity was up from the 146 MW recorded as of Oct. 8.

Among the utility’s customers already participating in the ILP are SM Prime Holdings, Inc.; Robinsons Land Corp.; Waltermart Malls; Ayala Land, Inc.; Rustans Supercenters, Inc.; PLDT, Sun and Smart; Shangri-La Plaza Corp.; Alphaland Development, Inc.; Ortigas & Co.; and Megaworld Corp.

Also in the list are Xin Tian Ti Development Corp.; Sunstar Mall in Laguna; Makati Sky Plaza, Inc.; Prestige Tower Condominium; Power Concessionaires, Inc.; Feature Realty Holdings & Dev’t; ABC Development Corp.; Raffles Condominium Corp.; Manta Equities, Inc.; The JMT Condominium Corp.; Seda Hotel in Bonifacio Global City; and Citystate Centre Condominium Corp.

“ILP is a demand-side management solution meant to alleviate tight power supply by calling business customers with loads of at least 1 MW to reduce consumption, if needed, and run their own generator sets instead of drawing power from the grid,” Meralco explained in its published advertisement.

Last week, Meralco President Oscar S. Reyes said the utility expects some 430 MW to be enrolled under its ILP.

Power shortage is expected to hit Luzon next year, with latest figures from the DoE showing that additional 900 MW -- from 800 MW estimated previously -- will be needed to plug the deficit and meet the required reserves besides.

Business groups have been pushing for a more effective utilization of the ILP in response to the government’s call to build up energy reserves and avert potentially crippling outages next year.

They have expressed confidence that up to 700 MW can be enrolled under the ILP before the Dec. 19 deadline that the DoE set for the participants to voluntarily sign up under the program.

The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry last month claimed that running ILP capacities for five hours for five days a week -- assuming fuel cost of P45 per liter -- “is estimated to increase the consumer’s bill by approximately P0.08 per kWh (kilowatt-hour) only for the month that the ILP is implemented.”

But it argued that utilizing ILP capacities will avoid even higher costs that could be incurred were the government to contract additional capacities under a “take-or-pay” fixed-term lease with government subsidy.

Even with some committed supply to help avert Luzon grid’s expected deficit, the government has been pushing for supply security through contracting additional power generating capacity.

President Benigno S.C. Aquino III last month invoked the power crisis provision of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001, asking both chambers of Congress to issue a joint resolution that will authorize the government to contract additional capacity.

Both the Senate and House of Representatives have yet to come up with their versions of the resolution.

Meralco’s controlling stakeholder, Beacon Electric Asset Holdings, Inc., is partly owned by Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT). Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld. -- Claire-Ann Marie C. Feliciano source

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