Meralco earmarks P1.5B to automate system

MANILA, Philippines – Manila Electric Co., the country’s largest power distributor, has earmarked P1.5 billion in the 2016 regulatory period to automate its system and improve its remote control capability within its franchise area.

“For regulatory year 2016, which is from July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016, our budget for automation is around P1.5 billion,” Meralco vice president and head of networks Ronnie Aperocho said last week.

The Meralco official explained automating its distribution network would allow the distribution company to shutdown specific areas that are severely affected by typhoons, calamities and other emergency cases, and at the same time, restore power to unaffected areas without sending personnel.

“Within our franchise, there are areas where restoration of power during emergency cases is difficult due to traffic situation, flooding etc. When we automate our system, we won’t rely much on the manual capability of our people,” Aperocho said.

“When a particular segment of our system is affected, readily we can isolate that system and restore power to unaffected portion of the circuit,” he added.

To automate the system, Meralco would be installing remote sensing devices in its network.

Currently, Meralco’s remote control capability is now limited to line switches which covers around 30 to 45 percent of its franchise area, Aperocho noted.

“But we’re accelerating the build up of our remote sensing devices and equipment,” he said.

So far, those with remote control capability are the Valencia substation in Quezon City and the Pagcor Substation in Paranaque City, which would be commissioned by the end of the month.

The distribution company is now waiting for the go signal of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to commence with the automation, Aperocho said.

“All of these are still for approval of ERC. It’s part of the application for approval under the PBR (performance-based regulation) scheme,” he said.

The Meralco franchise area covers 5.68 million customers in Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite and Rizal, as well as in certain areas in the provinces of Batangas, Laguna, Pampanga, and Quezon.