By Danessa Rivera (The
Philippine Star) | Updated March 11, 2016 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines - Power
distributor Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) has set over P15 billion in capital
spending in 2017 to meet its franchise area’s growing requirements.
Meralco diclosed yesterday it filed
an application with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for the approval of
its capital expenditure (capex) for Regulatory Year 2017, which starts on
July 1, 2016 and ends on June 30, 2017.
The capex the company is asking
clearance for amounts to P15.4 billion, Meralco CFO Betty Siy-Yap said in a
text message.
The spending covers 23 major
projects, bulk of which are for maintaining, expanding and improving Meralco
facilities and assets.
In its filing, Meralco said these
projects will ensure the distribution infrastructure is sufficient to meet the
needs of its franchise area.
It sees peak demand to grow at about
3.5 percent and customer base to expand 3.1 percent over the 2017 regulatory
period
“The increase in peak demand and customer
count will require Meralco to increase the capacity of the electric
distribution system in order to accommodate customer connections while
maintaining the reliability and power quality of its distribution system,” it
said.
Major projects also cover the
automation to integrate innovative services and solutions into its distribution
network.
“Automation/technology projects will
further allow Meralco to enhance its distribution network, allowing it to
respond more effectively to line and network outages which will reduce service
interruptions of customers,” Meralco said.
Meanwhile, the power distributor has
allocated P112.26 million for the relocation of its assets affected by the
construction of government’s public-private partnership (PPP) projects.
The capex also includes spending for
83 residual projects, mostly for the improvement, rehabilitation of facilities
and IT assets.
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