Meralco generates additional power in 2008

MANILA, Philippines - The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) generated an additional 127,015 megawatthour (mWh) in 2008 as it convinced more self-generating companies to source their power requirements from the power distribution firm.

Meralco treasurer Rafael Andrada said last year, the company was able to woo at least 16 self-generation customers. A megawatt hour is equivalent to 1,000 kilowatthour.

“Based on our energy sales, 16 self-generation customers returned to the Meralco grid,” Andrada said.

Last year, Meralco said that these companies availed themselves of the company’s customer choice program (CCP) which offers relatively lower rates.

Andrada did not identify the firms that decided to go back to the grid but it was revealed before that the company is convincing a few firms such as Indophil, Mariwasa, Solid Cement, URC (Robitex), URC (CFC), Samsung, Goodyear, Air Liquid, Creative Diecast, Ibiden, Hoya, GNF and Hitachi to buy Meralco power.

Under the CCP, Meralco customers with at least 1 MW consumption are allowed a choice between Napocor’s time-of-use (TOU) rates or Meralco’s blended generation rate.

The CCP is expected to reduce the cost of electricity for large users, industrial and commercial customers by making available Napocor’s lower TOU rates.

The program will help electricity users manage their consumption by shifting energy use from peak to off-peak hours. Electricity prices are lowest during off-peak hours (10 p.m. to 7 a.m., and highest during peak hours (10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and 6 p.m. to 9 p.m).

It was noted that one of the reasons why system losses in other countries are lower is because the share of industrial sector to electricity consumption is much higher.

For instance, the share of Meralco’s industrial customers in the electricity consumption is only 28.2 percent compared to Korea ‘s 52.9 percent, Taiwan ‘s 50.9 percent, Malaysia ‘s 45.4 percent and Thailand ‘s 48.8 percent.

Meralco is projecting to lower its system loss to almost nine percent, which is below the 9.5 percent cap set by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC). At present, Meralco’s system loss level is at 9.65 percent.