posted May 11, 2016 at 11:30 pm by Alena Mae S. Flores
Manila Electric Co. and Millennium
Energy Inc. jointly filed a petition with the Energy Regulatory Commission to
allow the dispatch of power from the 100-megawatt Navotas gas turbine power
plant pending the resolution of their dispute.
Meralco and Millennium on May 10
filed a 26-page petition for dispute resolution and an interim relief with the
ERC. The disagreement stemmed from Meralco’s distribution wheeling charges.
Meralco and Millenium asked the
regulator to “prevent Meralco from cutting off the Millennium Gas Turbine Power
Plant from its distribution system” and allow the delivery of electricity using
the retailer’s distribution system pending the resolution of the dispute.
The parties also asked ERC not to
make Millennium liable for unpaid billings amounting to P34.501 million and
order Meralco to make the proper refunds to Millennium as may be justified by
the circumstances.
They also asked ERC to fix the
distribution wheeling charges taking into account “the peculiarities of the
embedded generators, grouping them together as may be warranted by
circumstances.”
Millennium said it already paid out
P92 million to Meralco in distribution wheeling charges as of November 2015,
adding it could no longer pay the fees from December 2015 to March 2016
amounting to P34.501 million.
Millennium said its payment was
enough to recover P26.633-million cost of connecting the power plant to
Meralco.
Millennium said compelling the
company to pay the remaining distribution charges would hasten its financial
hemorrhage and threaten its business survival.
The company said revenues from May
2015 to March 2016 reached P131.156 million compared with generation costs,
including the distribution wheeling charges, of P384.47 million.
Meralco and Millenium said granting
a waiver of the remaining distribution wheeling charges did not amount to
discrimination and would not result to cross-subsidization.
Energy Secretary Zenaida Monsadal
sent a letter to Millennium and Meralco last week seeking assurance of the
Navotas power output once called upon by the power grid.
Monsada earlier said she would sit
down with Meralco and Millennium to resolve their dispute and allow the
generation of 100 megawatts from the Navotas plant.
Monsada had said the Navotas diesel
plant should provide additional capacity during the critical May 9 election
period.
Millennium also owns the 620-megawatt
Limay power plant previously owned by San Miguel Corp.
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