Published November 25, 2019, 10:00
PM By Myrna
M. Velasco
Power utility giant Manila Electric
Company (Meralco) will be needing ₱18 billion next year for its load network
upgrade and expansion to accommodate not just demand growth for customers but
also to underpin the infrastructure development program of the government.
According to Ronnie L. Aperocho,
Meralco senior vice president and head of networks, the targeted capital
spending will just be for the network improvement of the utility firm –
including reinforcements to its smart grid journey.
“We need ₱18 billion just for
networks… that will already include our requirements to support Build, Build,
Build and the PPP (Public-Private Partnership) program of the government,” he
said.
Bulk of the project funding, he
expounded, shall be funneled to the pipelined smart substations of the company
– and the relocation of poles and other distribution facilities that will be
traversed by various infrastructure projects of the State.
He noted that next year’s programmed
budget would entail massive jump from the company’s spending of ₱12 billion
this 2019. So far, ₱11 billion of that allocation had already been expended as
of third quarter this year.
Aperocho noted that stakeholders in
various government-underpinned infrastructure projects are already demanding
that relocation of facilities be carried out faster – but he said, the entire
process must be done systematically and by phases.
In the actual Meralco application
for 2020 capital expenditures (capex) with the Energy Regulatory Commission
(ERC), it sought for ₱15.19 billion – of which ₱10.46 billion had been lined up
for “very urgent” projects; and the balance of ₱4.73 billion for residual
projects.
It has to be noted though that in
recent years, Meralco has been undertaking its usual application for yearly
capex with the regulator – then it still does supplementary filing for “emergency
capex” and these were generally projects supporting State-backed BBB
infrastructure ventures.
The network reinforcement and
expansion of the company had been eyed to “facilitate the faster connection of
our customers to the grid, and of course, to address load growth requirements
of our customers and to renew our dilapidated or aging assets,” Aperocho said.
And part of the company’s target is
to achieve “zero unconnected end-user” within its franchise area, hence, it is
also accelerating undertakings in extending electricity service to all
customers within its service domain.
That’s why we have this number of
sites being identified to be energized – these sites used to be problematic
sites in terms of extending our facilities because of many reasons like
right-of-way, LGU (local government unit) problems and those areas that have
sort of permitting issues,” the Meralco executive emphasized.
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