Manila Times.net
By Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo Reporter
MANILA Electric Co. (Meralco) is mulling over additional borrowings within the year
to finance its proposed foray into power generation.
Betty Sy-Yap, Meralco chief finance officer, said the company may tap lenders to fund its power projects given the prevailing low interest rates in the market.
“We’ve never seen such low interest rates. It’s really an opportune time for us,” she said, adding that the company may also consider drawing from internally generated funds for its projects.
The Philippines’ biggest electricity distributor however has yet to put a stamp on a definite power project it would pursue. This early, though, a number of local and foreign banks have already approached Meralco not only to offer loans for their upcoming projects but also possible re-financing of debts.
‘We’ve been approached by a lot of bankers. There are opportunities for us to re-finance our debt,” Sy-Yap said.
Meralco is looking at putting up between 300 and 600 megawatts of power generating capacity to augment its supply, which comes from its contracted independent power producers, state-owned National Power Corp. and the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market.
Under local regulations, utilities like Meralco may invest in power plants provided they do not supply more than half of the electricity they distribute to their customers.
Oscar Reyes, Meralco senior executive vice president and chief operating officer, said the utility’s plan to enter into power generation would address the supply and pricing problems endured by its suppliers. The distributor though has yet to put a timetable on this plan.
“We probably [would] be looking at a capacity in the short-term – five years – a capacity of 600 megawatts base-load. We will be shaping our capacity as we see demand growing,” Reyes said.
He said that the utility would probably come out with a decision on whether or not it would pursue its power projects within the first half of 2011.
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