SPEED boosts Meralco sales by P2.19B in ’03

The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) registered improved sales due to the government’s power usage enhancement program, particularly the Special Program to Enhance Electricity Demand (SPEED) which boosted the company’s energy sales by P2.19 billion in 2003.

In a statement, Meralco said SPEED has added an incremental 138 million kilowatthours (kwh) to its grid.

SPEED is part of a 10-point plan crafted in 2002 by the Arroyo administration to reduce power rates.

Specifically, SPEED is aimed at encouraging the increase in the usage of existing power plants in the grids. Effectively, this program reduces average power costs for large electricity end-users, both industrial and commercial.

Meralco said another initiative to spur industrial activity and improve generating plant utilization is the one-day power sales (ODPS) program launched by the National Power Corp. (Napocor) and Meralco in March 2000.

The ODPS program provides lower cost of power to self-generating industrial customers with demand of at least one megawatt (MW).

Since its introduction, availment of the ODPS program has steadily grown by four percent annually to reach a level of 282 gigawatthours (gwh) in 2003, providing P1.6 billion in additional revenues for the company.

In July 2003, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) ordered Meralco to implement a 12-centavo per kwh discount on incremental electricity usage of its customers.

Most of the industrial and commercial customers of Meralco can be found in the industrial areas and economic zone estates of Laguna, Batangas, and Cavite.

Based on the scheme for SPEED, the program will be carried out in two phases. Phase I of the program is opened for industries with a minimum load of 1,000 kilowatts or one MW. The second phase, on the other hand, can be availed by industries with a load of at least 500 kw. About 1,148 customers of Meralco fall under this category.

The discount only applies to the incremental consumption determined through the so-called Customer Baseline Load (CBL) for a quarter. With this, SPEED encourages power-intensive industries to extend productions hours and shift schedules to encourage more use of electricity that will in turn stir economic activity and wipe out the unutilized capacity.

Among the industries still capable of expanding operations are the electronics, garments, and semiconductor sectors.

The SPEED program will take effect until the full implementation of the wholesale electricity spot market (WESM), or whenever there is no available Napocor unutilized capacity in the Luzon grid.